Ghostly Adventures
by Cpaz00
Summary: It all started with a stolen thermos and malfunctioning powers. As it turned out, that night would be the best thing that had ever happened to the halfa, for it was on that night that he stumbled across the Straw Hats, and their lives became forever intertwined.
1. The Fateful Encounter (Pt 1)

**Hey guys! I'm back with my first crossover series (the first one published that is). Before we get started with this series, I want to thank my counselor for everything she's done for me. She's also the reason this series exists, so once again, thanks so much for everything. Consider this series a dedication/gift to her.**

**I don't own One Piece or Danny Phantom. Without further ado, let's get started!**

It was 3:00am when a sudden chill awakened the sleeping halfa. Groaning at the loss of sleep, he nonetheless phased through his sheets, transforming into Phantom before flying out of his house to find the ghost that had decided to interrupt his sleep.

At first it seemed that there were no ghosts, but after several minutes of flying around, he could hear an echoing shout coming from within what looked to be a department or storage garage. Beginning to suspect who it was, he phased into the building, groaning upon seeing that he was right.

"Beware! I am the Box Ghost!"

"You have _got_ to be kidding me. You _again_?!"

"You should not underestimate the power of boxes and all things that are rectangular!"

Danny sighed. "Can we just get this over with"—he yawned—"so I can get at least a few extra minutes of sleep?"

The ghost stared at him for a moment. "I am the Box Ghost! Face the wrath of—" he turned to read the label on the ghostly box in his hand (hold on, had that always been there? Man, he must've been really tired to not have noticed it). "Skulker's extra weapons and armor parts!"

"What?!" Caught by surprise, the halfa barely managed to avoid the weapons and the random shots being fired from them as they hit the wall behind him and fell to the ground below. Now more alert, and deciding not to take any more chances, Danny quickly took out the Fenton thermos and captured the box ghost inside it, but just after capping the lid, a sudden explosion sent him flying into the ceiling before crashing back onto the ground.

He groaned in pain, taking a moment to let the world stop spinning as he tried to figure out what had happened. Seeing the remaining pile of weapons, he decided that something in there must have exploded. Now somewhat worried (who knows what kind of effects they'd have on him), he tried to float, inspecting both himself and the surrounding area for any damage when he found that he could fly without a problem. "Ok..." He shot an ectoblast at the remaining weapons, destroying them. Satisfied and slightly confused to find no signs of any trouble, he shrugged and phased out of the building, ready to go back to his room and get more sleep when his ghost sense went off again.

"Ugh... can't they just leave me alone for one night?"

Before he could sense it coming, he was blasted in the back, the thermos in his hands slipping out of his grip. Alarmed, he flew to catch it, but before he could grab it, another green blur, having reached it first, snatched it away from him.

"Hey! Give it back! I don't have time for this!"

Finally getting a good look at the ghost, Danny realized it was one he'd never seen before, and it was rather mischievous if the way it curiously shook the device said anything. "Listen, I know it might look like a toy, but it's really important to me. So can I have it back now?"

The ghost looked at him before sticking its tongue out, turning and flying away afterward.

"Wha—seriously? Hey, come back here! This isn't some kind of game!" He really didn't want to chase this ghost around. He just wanted to go back to his room and sleep. What made the idea even more tempting was the fact that the only ghost in the thermos at the moment was the box ghost, so if the release button was hit, there wouldn't be any major consequences.

But he knew he couldn't let the ghost take the thermos. If it got into the wrong hands, it could be a huge threat. It was a device specifically made to capture ghosts, and Danny was half of one, so if another ghost used it on him, he'd be trapped, and Amity Park would be left defenseless.

Sighing more out of worry than annoyance, Danny gave chase.

The ghost seemed to like that, for it smiled and sped up, flying outside of Amity Park.

It was around that time things went wrong.

At first he found he couldn't speed up even though he hadn't reached his top speed. Frowning, he had only just started to ponder what was wrong when his flight gave out, and he began to fall. Seeing the ghost pause, Danny tried to aim at the troublesome ghost, firing an ectoblast before crashing into the forest below.

In too much pain to move at the moment (surely something had broken in that fall), he shut his eyes to keep from crying out, instead focusing on listening to his surroundings, hoping the ghost (or anyone else for that matter) wouldn't take advantage of his current weakness while he healed. But a few seconds later he realized that his ghostly healing wasn't working, for the pain still hadn't eased. He struggled to sit up, wincing and hissing as he transformed back into Fenton. The various scrapes and bruises he felt as Phantom were now visible, stinging and throbbing even worse than before.

"Ow... Just great. My powers short out while I'm flying maybe hundreds of feet above the ground, and I crash in the middle of a forest. Not to mention that ghost probably got away with the thermos by now. Could things get any worse?"

His eyes went wide in realization. He was alone, somewhat injured and without ghost powers, in the middle of a forest. In other words, he was completely helpless. Forcing himself to stand, he looked around several times, waiting for any sign that an enemy was nearby. Because knowing his luck, someone was going to find him any moment now—

The sound of footsteps made him freeze. There were several footsteps, and they were coming towards him. He considered making a run for it but quickly realized he likely wouldn't be able to outrun whoever it was, regardless of the fact that the approaching footsteps were most likely human.

"Hey! Someone there?"

Danny jumped at the sudden shout, nearly falling onto the ground from the pain as he landed. He bit back a curse as he realized they probably heard the noise he had just made.

"We know you're there, so there's no use hiding. If you're not here to cause trouble, then show yourself!"

Danny swallowed before moving toward the voice. As he moved past the final barrier, he could make out a guy (the one who had been shouting, he realized) and a girl, both in battle-ready stances. He saw them tense briefly before relaxing, surprise written on their faces. "You're just a kid. What are you doing out here?"

"Oh. I uh..." _I was chasing a ghost when my powers stopped working, so I fell into this forest._ "I was chasing someone that went into this forest, but I lost sight of him."

Their gazes turned suspicious. "And what did this person you were chasing look like?"

"Oh... well..." He couldn't say that it was a ghost. Nobody outside of Amity Park, unless they had seen one themselves, believed they existed. "I'm not entirely sure _what_ he was."

"And what does that mean?"

Seeing that somehow his response had put him under even more suspicion (though for what, he had no idea), he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "At this point, it doesn't really matter anymore. I doubt I'll be able to find him." Seeing the question in their eyes, he elaborated, "He stole my thermos. I have more, but it would've been better if I got it back."

"Your thermos?" The two strangers glanced at each other, as if asking the other something neither had the answer to.

Instead, the guy said, "You're pretty banged up. Someone do that to you?"

"No, I just fell is all." They stared, skeptical of his half-truth. "Really! I had a bad fall and got scraped up. It's not too bad though." They still seemed doubtful, but it seemed something in his response convinced them to refrain from questioning him further on that topic.

"And you didn't come with anyone?"

"No. It was pretty sudden. Besides, I didn't want to wake anybody up." They didn't say anything, instead trying to assess the severity of his injuries and how much the darkness of the night was hiding from their sight. "I'm really sorry if I intruded in any way. I'll be going now." He turned to leave, wincing at the pain from the movement but tried to remain steady as he began to walk away.

"Hold on!" He paused, slowly turning back around to face the two strangers. "I don't think you should be going home alone like this."

"I'll be fine, I promise. I don't want to be a bother to you guys."

They both frowned at him. "Exactly how far are you from your home right now?"

Danny thought about it for a moment. Flying from here to his home at a normal speed would probably take ten to fifteen minutes, but since his powers weren't working at the moment... "At least half an hour."

The two were silent, clearly considering what to do. Turning to each other, they began to murmur amongst themselves, but thanks to Danny's enhanced hearing, he was able to make out what they were saying.

"We can't just let him go home alone like this. If his home were closer, I wouldn't mind letting him go, but half an hour is pretty far, and I'm pretty sure it's even farther than he says."

"It's only natural that his home's so far. That's the reason we're here. I'm still not sure we can trust him. Even if someone did steal his thermos, I haven't seen anybody else in this forest, and we would've known if Luffy took it."

"True, but he's just a kid. I doubt he'd be dumb enough to try to attack us, especially in his state. He may say he's fine, but he's clearly not in any condition to be walking back home."

"You know we'll have to leave if he sees the others."

"That's true for anybody, which is why you were on watch tonight. If he stays in the living room and leaves before breakfast is ready, it should be fine."

"What about Brook? He's always up early."

"I'll have Robin tell him to stay in his room until he leaves. And it won't be a big deal if he sees Sanji since he goes into town to buy food anyway."

"Alright, if you say so. I'm still going to be keeping an eye on him though."

"Of course."

They turned toward him. "You can stay at our place for the night. You clearly need rest."

Danny frowned at the offer. They might not have known he had heard their discussion (and he was pretty sure he'd heard plenty that he shouldn't have heard), but it was clear his staying would be not only an inconvenience but a risk to them and whatever secrets they were clearly hiding from the outside world. "Listen, I really appreciate your offer, but you really don't have to do this. I'm pretty sure you guys don't actually want me to stay with you. Don't worry about me getting home. I've had to deal with worse, so I should be fine."

Strangely enough, his refusal sparked some kind of fire in their minds, for the girl walked up to him and firmly grabbed his arm, gently pulling him toward her companion, who also seemed to have a different kind of look in his eye than before. "You're staying with us for the night, and that's final."

Baffled by their sudden change in attitude towards him, Danny let himself be taken to their cabin, where he was allowed to sleep on the couch in the living room.

"Thanks... Sorry if I caused any inconvenience."

"Forget about it. If it really wasn't okay, we wouldn't have invited you to stay here."

"I guess..." But Danny knew that they had plenty of reasons to not invite him. He knew his presence was risky to them and their secrets, and if they had gone so far as to live in isolation from society, then those secrets had to be huge.

"Well, I'm going back to sleep." She began to go up the stairs only to stop and come back down. "I forgot to ask you: what's your name?"

"My name's Danny." He considered asking theirs but quickly decided not to.

"Danny. My name's Nami. Goodnight!"

Surprised that she had actually shared her name, he forgot the other one was still there until he said, "Sorry, but since we don't really know you, I'm going to be keeping an eye on you."

Danny was about to say that he already knew but caught himself just before saying it. "I figured as much. It's fine." Settling down, he allowed himself to fall asleep.

The next morning, he awoke to the hushed voices of two guys, one being the same from last night.

"Curlybrows, think you could hold off on making breakfast until he leaves?"

"Huh? What's a kid doing here?"

"We found him all banged up in the forest last night. It was late and he was alone, so the witch and I offered to let him stay here for the night."

Deciding he didn't want to overhear more than he already had, he stirred, and the two guys fell silent.

"Hey, kid. You awake?"

He sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Yeah." Turning, he saw that the other guy was blond, a peculiar curly eyebrow the only unusual feature he could see.

Realizing he had been staring, he looked away in embarrassment and shame. "Sorry... I was being rude just now."

Had Danny been looking, he would've seen the irritation on the blond's face morph into surprise. "Oh, don't worry about it. I've gotten used to it at this point."

"It was still rude of me to stare."

"Well, dartboard brow has weird genetics, so it really isn't your fault."

"Like you're one to talk, mosshead!"

"At least my hair can pass as being dyed. Your stupid eyebrows aren't something people would find cool."

"Don't act like having green hair is normal, shitty marimo! And for the record, I look way cooler than you, moss for brains!"

"You wish, stupid cook!"

As they bickered, Danny shrank away toward the door, his eyes wide as if he were witnessing a bad argument between his parents.

"Don't mind those two idiots. They're always fighting like this." He turned to see Nami walk up to the two guys, who at this point were on the verge of fighting, and knock them on the head. "Stop that or else you'll wake everybody up!"

"Understood, Nami dear!"

"Damn witch..."

"What was that?!"

"I told you guys to stop fighting!"

The moment they remembered Danny was still there was obvious, for they fell silent, eyes going wide before turning their heads toward Danny to see what his reaction to the whole scene was. Had he not been so shocked, he would've laughed at their faces, but as it was, he was busy enough trying to comprehend the apparently normal chaos he'd just witnessed (compared to what he'd later witness, this was nowhere near crazy).

"Uh... thanks for letting me stay here. I should really get going though." Actually, now that he thought about it, his injuries had healed, and that could only mean that his powers were working again. How that had happened, Danny could only guess (he'd later decide that whatever weapon had shorted out his powers only had a temporary effect).

"Try not to get into any more trouble, you hear?"

Danny internally winced at that. If only they knew. "I'll try." He left the cabin, trekking through the forest for several minutes before stopping to transform into Phantom and flying the rest of the way back to Amity Park, where he was sure by now Jazz had noticed his absence.

Robin opened her eyes, smiling as she released the extra limbs she had sprouted. "It appears our guest last night was very interesting indeed."

And things only became more interesting for the archeologist when Luffy came running into the cabin later that day holding a thermos.

**How's that for a first chapter? Thanks so much for reading this fanfic. I'd greatly appreciate any feedback on my writing or even ideas for more chapters since this is a series of isolated events (but they still happen in order and build on previous chapters).**

**If you'd like to suggest an idea, I definitely appreciate and will consider it, but I'll decide whether or not to actually write them. If I do use an idea someone suggested, I'll mention who suggested it at the beginning of the corresponding chapter. This series is meant to be relatively light-hearted, so anything too dark or drastic won't really fit here, even if it's an idea I like.**

**I'll be updating weekly, so since this first chapter was published on Wednesday, I'll be updating every Wednesday as long as I have a chapter to publish. Once I run out of prewritten chapters, I'll only be updating as new chapters are written. Those new chapters will still be published on Wednesday, for consistency's sake.**


	2. The Fateful Encounter (Pt 2)

**Once again, I don't own One Piece or Danny Phantom.**

"Hey, I think that thermos is Danny's."

"Danny? Who's that?"

"Just some kid who wandered into the forest last night. He said something about his thermos being stolen."

"Oh. Well, it sure looks weird." Luffy inspected it, eyes wide in curiosity. "Ooh, what's this button do?"

Nami, having already sensed that Luffy would try to do something stupid with the strange item, quickly slapped his hand away before it could press the button she's almost certain was labeled 'release.' Whatever that meant, it didn't sound good. "Give that to me. This clearly isn't a normal thermos." He pouted but let her take it from him. She turned toward Zoro, who had been napping in the living room before Luffy came in. "Zoro, he said he lived about thirty minutes from here, right?"

"Yeah."

"I was looking at a map earlier, one I got from the last town." She walked over to the coffee table, laying out the map. The others, having heard the commotion in the living room, gathered around the table to see what she had to say. "We're in this forest, and the closest town from here is Amity Park, over here."

"Then he probably lives in Amity Park."

"Exactly. We should probably return this to him. It must've been important if he came all the way out here for it."

Luffy literally jumped at the thought. "Ooh! Ooh! Sounds exciting! Let's go!"

"Oh, no. There's no way I'm letting you come along. We just got here, and I don't want to have to leave this nice cabin anytime soon, so you're staying here."

"Awwww, but I wanna go into the mystery town! It's boring here."

Considering how much of a handful Luffy could be on a normal basis, she almost disregarded his complaints, but she quickly realized that if she did, she would have to deal with a bored and restless Luffy upon returning, and that was by far worse than an energetic Luffy. Suddenly the idea of taking him with her to Amity Park didn't seem so terrible. "Alright, you can come." Luffy cheered loudly. This was a mistake. "But you've got to stay out of trouble. No wandering off by yourself. We can't draw attention to ourselves, so act normal."

"Okay!"

Someone kill her. Trying to stop herself from screaming in frustration, she sighed. "Robin, could you come too? I was hoping to check out exactly what kind of town we're going to be getting all of our supplies from anyway, so now's a good chance to do that."

Robin smiled. "Of course."

"Could I come along too? I'm going to need to restock our food supply soon, so I may as well go now."

Yet another person who could help keep Luffy in check. Perfect. "Of course, Sanji. Everyone else should stay in case something happens while we're gone."

And so, the four Straw Hats left for Amity Park.

They hadn't been in town for more than five minutes when they heard sounds of destruction, some people running away screaming while others actually went closer to the disturbance, a mix of curiosity and excitement on their faces.

"What's going on here?"

One of the nearby civilians paused and turned toward the Straw Hats, explaining, "It's a ghost attack. Don't worry, Phantom's taking care of it." He continued walking upon finishing, not even bothering to see their reactions. The way he so casually stated something so unusual, as if it were a common occurrence (which it was), confused Nami.

"A ghost attack?! That sounds so cool!"

"Are you crazy?! That's anything but cool!"

"It appears that Luffy isn't the only one to think so." As proof, she gestured toward two teens who were excitedly running toward the chaos.

"See? Let's go check it out!"

But before Luffy could even begin to run towards the supposed ghost attack, a black blur was blown over their heads into a building. Seconds later, a larger, green blur (a ghost, Nami realized) approached the building. Their attention caught by the ghost, none of them noticed when the crowd that had been watching the fight showed up seconds later to the new location.

They watched in silence as the smaller boy-like ghost shook off the rubble, groaning a little before saying something, but the specter was too far away for his words to be discerned by the witnessing audience. Nami watched in awe as the smaller ghost shot a green blast from the palm of his hand, nailing the other ghost. Before the larger one could recover enough to attack, the teen-sized ghost pulled something out from his belt (hold on... isn't that—), aiming it toward the other ghost as it shot a blue beam of energy, engulfing the green specter and pulling it inside the device. A second later the lid was placed on the opening of the container, effectively trapping the ghost inside.

The crowd cheered, and was that a look of embarrassment on the young ghost's face? He waved at the crowd before flying off, disappearing from sight seconds later.

"That. Was. Awesome!"

"Did you see what that ghost used on the bigger one? I'm pretty sure it's the same thermos we have."

They looked at the thermos in Nami's hand.

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. It was kind of hard to see, but it had the same shape."

"That would explain what this release button does. If we press it, it'll release whatever ghost is inside." Which meant that she had been carrying a ghost around this whole time. Nami nearly shuddered at the realization.

"So it summons ghosts? Let's summon one!"

Luffy moved to grab the thermos only for Nami to shove his hands away. "No, you idiot! This thermos is used to capture ghosts like what we just saw."

"Hold on... didn't you say Danny's was stolen?"

Their eyes widened at Sanji's words.

"Could that have been what he was saying?" Seeing the confusion in their eyes, Nami explained, "Danny said he didn't know _what_ the person who stole his thermos was. Zoro and I thought he might have been talking about Luffy, but what if he meant that ghost we saw was the one he was chasing?"

"If he didn't know what a ghost was, why would he have a device made to capture them? He had to have known it was a ghost." He looked at the thermos. "The fact that he even has one..." The blond looked up at the three others. "Wouldn't that make Danny a ghost hunter?"

"After what I just saw, it wouldn't surprise me."

"Isn't that Danny over there?" Robin directed their attention to a nearby alleyway, and sure enough, Danny walked out, looking around carefully as he went, almost as if he had been in hiding.

"Hold on, how did you know that's Danny?"

Robin only smiled.

"Never mind... At this point it really shouldn't surprise me anymore."

Luffy, excited by the surprise ghost attack, grabbed the thermos out of Nami's hand and ran up to Danny, shouting, "Hey! We found your thermos!"

Danny winced, the other Straw Hats flinching as the crowd of townspeople paused to stare at the Straw Hats, but they hardly had a second to acknowledge the sudden attention before the sound of a button being pressed reached their ears, and a fat, blue ghost came out of the thermos in Luffy's outstretched hand.

"I am the Box—"

A blue beam enveloped the ghost. Jaws dropped in disbelief, the crowd watched as the ghost was pulled into an identical thermos. Looking up from the container, they saw that the person who had so quickly and effortlessly captured the ghost was Danny, who had been entirely unfazed by the sudden turn of events if his unimpressed expression was anything to go by. It was only after he capped the lid that he realized what he had done, his eyes going wide as he looked up at the silent crowd with a panicked expression.

"Uh... hi guys."

The people continued to stare, and Danny fidgeted nervously. Just when it seemed he was ready to flee, they turned and walked away while slowly shaking their heads, for there was no way something so uncharacteristic of the youngest Fenton could ever happen, and what they had just seen went against everything they knew about him (which was basically nothing, but they didn't know that).

Luffy opened his mouth to shout something only for Nami's hand to forcefully clamp it shut before he could say anything. Disaster averted, she turned to address Danny, who seemed to be relieved by the crowd's dissipation. "Sorry about that. Luffy can be a bit of an idiot sometimes."

He jumped, his gaze settling on the Straw Hats before a look of recognition crossed his features. "Oh, Nami! I didn't see you there. Uh..." He looked down nervously at the thermos in his hand (though for what, Nami had no clue).

Deciding to ignore it for the time being, she said, "We found your thermos earlier today and figured we'd try to return it to you."

He looked up in surprise, a hint of relief and disbelief in his eyes. "You found it? Wait—duh. The Box Ghost."

"Is that the ghost Luffy released?"

"Uh—yeah. Everyone knows about the Box Ghost." His gaze drifted to the thermos still in Luffy's hand.

Realizing he wanted it back, Nami grabbed the thermos. "Here."

Danny, grateful to have it back, took it from her. "Thanks. You have no idea how much trouble I could've gotten in if I'd lost it."

"You said someone stole it from you last night, right? Was it that ghost we saw earlier?"

Danny stiffened. "No, it wasn't Phantom, if that's who you're talking about."

"Phantom... come to think of it, someone else called him Phantom too."

"So that's his name?"

"Yeah."

"If Phantom didn't steal your thermos, then why did he have one just like it?"

Danny hesitated, clearly trying to figure out what to say. "He has his own thermos. The reason it looks like mine is because he got it from us. You see, my family hunts ghosts, so we have lots of thermoses, and Phantom got one by chance. He said that my parents threw it in his face, but they don't believe him."

Robin smiled, a knowing glint in her eyes. "So the thermos we saw Phantom use and the thermos you used just now were two different thermoses?"

Danny was quick to nod. "Yeah. This one here"—he held out the thermos they had returned—"makes three."

"Does that mean you and that ghost guy—"

"It's Phantom."

"—know each other?!" Luffy could barely contain his excitement at the idea of meeting Phantom again, not to mention ghost hunting sounded fun.

"What? No! Of course not! I almost never see him except in the news." Not technically a lie since they were one and the same.

Luffy visibly sagged in disappointment, Robin chuckling in amusement (mostly at the irony of the situation, but no one knew that except herself) at his reaction. The other two were somewhat unconvinced of his response, their gazes skeptical and probing.

"Aww, I wanted him to join my crew!"

"You _what_?" Danny nearly squeaked.

"Luffy, are you insane? Phantom's a ghost!"

"But he's so cool! Having a ghost in our crew would be totally awesome!"

"Forget it! He seems to be bound to this town anyway. We can't just make him leave."

"Perhaps you'd like to ask Danny instead?" They all looked at Robin in surprise. "After all, he's from a family of ghost hunters."

They turned to Danny, who immediately froze in shock at the sudden proposal, almost as if he couldn't believe where the conversation had gone.

Luffy stared at him, his expression unreadable, but seconds later, a large smile covered his face, the intensity of his sudden excitement causing Danny to subconsciously take a step back.

"Danny, right? Join my crew!"

"W-What?"

"I said I want you to join my crew and be my friend." Danny remained silent. "C'mon, it'll be fun!"

Danny wasn't sure how to describe the feeling he felt in that moment. It was as if the only fitting answer was:

"Okay... Let's be friends."

**I don't want to have notes at the end of every chapter, so this will be the last one until something changes. Everything was mentioned in the first chapter's note, so look at that for my update schedule and thoughts on suggestions for future chapters.**

**Until next time, thanks for reading!**


	3. Meeting the Straw Hats

**I don't own One Piece or Danny Phantom.**

In the forest just outside of Amity Park, Danny looked around before allowing himself to become visible again, sighing as he transformed back into his human form. He was starting to have second thoughts about this whole mess, but in the end he had come to the forest where the Straw Hats' cabin was hidden.

_"You've gotta come meet the others!"_

_"Actually, I'm pretty busy. I can't go right now."_

_"You know where we're staying, so just come when you get the chance."_

_"Don't take too long, okay? We'll be waiting!"_

Walking the rest of the way to the front door, he paused, unsure he wanted to go through with this. He had a strange feeling that if he knocked, there would be no going back. Taking a moment to strengthen his resolve, he knocked on the door before he could change his mind.

The muffled sound of conversation stopped, and for one second, it was silent. Then, the sudden pounding of someone sprinting toward the door had Danny freezing where he stood, a voice from inside shouting "Luffy, wait! It might not be hi—"

The door flew open, a very excited and energetic Luffy practically jumping in joy upon seeing him, unware that he'd quite literally scared the poor teen half to death. "Danny! I knew you'd come!"

Danny grimaced slightly from the painfully loud shout. "Hey, Luffy. I'm guessing I chose a good time to come?"

Walking to join Luffy, Nami answered, "To be honest, I'm surprised you even came. I thought for sure Luffy would've scared you off by now. He can be a lot to handle."

"Believe me, I've dealt with plenty." But she was right. Luffy was unlike anyone he'd ever met, and Danny wasn't yet sure if that was a good thing or not.

He felt a hand grip his arm. When he looked up, he saw Luffy smile widely, laughing lightly. "Let's go meet the others!"

Before he could think to respond, Luffy began to tug on his arm to go inside. Startled by Luffy's abrupt actions, Danny almost phased his arm out of Luffy's grip, but, remembering he was supposed to be human, he let Luffy pull him inside into the living room.

"Danny's here, you guys!"

He nearly gasped in pain. Right. In. The. Ear.

"Luffy! Not so loud!"

Coming here had been a mistake.

"Hey... I don't think this is going to work..."

Luffy glanced at him, his gaze unreadable. Danny waited, expecting some kind of response, but Luffy only turned back toward the now gathering Straw Hats, Nami following suit despite being somewhat puzzled by his lack of response.

Confused and somewhat unsettled, Danny looked toward the others, eyes going wide in shock as he took in the sight before him.

"Hey there, little bro! Your name's Danny, right?"

He barely managed to nod.

Despite Danny's blatant staring, he smiled, taking no offense. "Super! I'm Franky. It's _super_ nice to meet you!"

He couldn't stop staring.

"Yohohoho! My goodness! It certainly is quite a sight, isn't it? My name is Brook, and I do hope we come to be great friends."

Danny couldn't even nod with Brook.

Luffy laughed, managing to snap Danny out of his gawking. "They're pretty funny, aren't they?"

"H-How..."

"Franky's a cyborg, and Brook's soul was revived. Now he's a living skeleton!"

"Luffy, are you sure it's a good idea to be telling him all of this?"

Danny was immediately drawn to the Pinocchio-like nose on his face.

It didn't take long for him to notice. "Hey! My nose isn't _that_ weird!"

Danny started as if caught doing something bad, looking down in shame. "Sorry... It's not like I really have a right to judge."

Touched by the genuine apology, he softened. "Ah, forget it. I've gotten used to people staring at it." He smirked, marking a noticeable shift in his demeanor. "They just wish they had a face like mine! In fact, one town I went to worshipped me as the God of—"

"You're lying, aren't you?"

"Hey! You couldn't at least let me finish?"

"Nope."

Luffy laughed, the others smiling in a fondness that Danny sensed was familiar to them. Taking a moment to observe the warm atmosphere of the group, Danny couldn't help but smile with them.

"Oh, my name's Usopp by the way."

"Oh, I never told you my name, did I? My name's Luffy!"

"He called you by your name when he got here, remember?"

"He did?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Guess I forgot."

They all groaned in exasperation.

"Shitty rubber aside..." He gave Danny a friendly smile. "My name's Sanji, and this idiot here"—he pointed to the green-haired guy next to him, who scowled in response—"is Zoro."

"Like you're one to talk, love cook."

"Shitty swordsman."

Nami sighed as they continued to argue with each other. "Those two never stop."

But as their argument escalated, Danny was surprised to find that none of the Straw Hats seemed too worried that their friends were fighting. "They really seem to hate each other. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure they argued the last time I was here as well. Are you sure it's okay for them to be like this?"

"That's just how Zoro and Sanji are. Trust me when I say they don't actually hate each other."

Danny was skeptical but decided not to argue against her words, instead warily watching the fight between the two Straw Hats.

"It's fascinating, isn't it?"

Caught off guard, Danny turned to the archeologist who had at some point moved to his side. "Huh?"

She smiled. "That people like us are able to coexist despite our differences. Perhaps it's because of those differences that we understand each other on a deeper level."

"Our differences..." But that didn't make sense to Danny. How could being half-ghost help others understand him? If anything, it was because of that difference that no one could understand him even on a fundamental level.

The fight between Zoro and Sanji ended, Luffy quickly picking up on the conversation Danny was having. "That's Robin. She's really smart!"

Danny, still brooding over what she had said, absently nodded.

"Hey, where's Chopper?"

They fell silent, looking around for the missing Straw Hat until a sneeze interrupted it, and they all turned toward the noise.

Chopper froze where he stood, his wide eyes locking onto Danny's equally wide eyes. Half of his face was hidden behind a doorway into some unknown room (it was the doorway to the infirmary, as Danny would later discover), but the rest of his small, furry form was exposed to the halfa.

Realizing that Chopper was trying to peek from behind the doorway, he awkwardly coughed to himself. "Uh... You're doing it backwards."

Chopper flinched for a moment before correcting his position so that only half of his face was visible.

Upon receiving no further response, Danny rubbed the back of his neck in discomfort. "Uh... my name's Danny. You're Chopper, right?" Struck by a sudden thought, he turned toward the others. "Wait, can he talk or am I just wasting my time trying to talk to him?"

"Of course I can talk, bastard!"

Danny's head whipped around in shock, Chopper quickly falling silent, his panicked face making it clear he had been the one speaking. Danny almost asked what he was, but he hesitated. That question was something he himself had problems with, so asking Chopper felt wrong. What if he was like him and didn't want to be reminded that he was different?

"You're wondering what Chopper is, aren't you?"

Danny's eyes went wide in instant discomfort. "W-What? I wasn't—"

Chopper, being the doctor, could tell that Danny was incredibly agitated, more so than he had been with the others even though they were just as strange if not even stranger than himself. Wanting to calm the teen down, Chopper smiled reassuringly. "It's okay to ask. I'm a reindeer-human hybrid of sorts, but I usually just say that I'm a reindeer."

Danny's eyes went wide. Luffy's crew had many strange people, but none of them had been hybrids, so to see that they had accepted one into their crew already... He himself was a hybrid. He was different than normal people, and they were too. Would they accept him just as they accepted Chopper? What would they think if he told them what he was? Remembering the warm feeling the group exuded when they laughed or smiled, Danny suddenly realized how lonely he had felt before meeting them. With the only other freak (clones not included) being Vlad, Danny had no one who could truly understand what it meant to be different to the extent that it would be considered unnatural. But in that cabin, surrounded by people so bizarre he couldn't imagine them existing at all without seeing them himself, he no longer felt like he was the only abnormal existence in the world. To have a group of friends like the Straw Hats was something he had never wanted more than at that moment.

He wanted to tell them, but at the thought of actually revealing his secret, he blanched. Sure, Chopper was a hybrid, but Danny wasn't a normal hybrid. Reindeers and humans were undoubtedly alive, but a half-ghost, half-human hybrid? How would they react to someone who was both dead and alive? No, he couldn't tell them. Not yet at least.

"Danny? Are you okay?"

Brought out of his thoughts, he realized that some of them were concerned by his lack of response. He froze when his eyes landed on Luffy.

Once again, his expression was unreadable, but the intensity and wisdom shining in those eyes made Danny uneasy, as if the very core of his being were on full display.

He didn't respond until he was sure he had regained his composure. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Luffy stared at him a moment longer before smiling, all the earlier seriousness vanishing as if hitting a switch. "Okay! Hey, Sanji! Let's throw a feast for Danny! And then I can eat lots of meat!"

At that moment, Danny's ghost sense went off, and he frowned. He was starting to really appreciate the Straw Hats' company (not to mention a feast sounded amazing if not for the absolute mayhem it was sure to cause given Luffy's excitement), but somewhere in Amity Park was a ghost that needed to be taken care of, so, regrettably, it was time to go.

"Hey, I really need to go. I just remembered I promised my friends I'd go watch a movie with them. Is it alright if I come back another time?"

Luffy was the first to react, pouting in obvious disappointment. "Aww! We were gonna have a feast! Now I won't get to eat any meat!"

Although his response was somewhat exaggerated, the disappointment was genuine, causing Danny to shrink back in guilt.

Sanji sighed. "I'll make you meat for dinner, so stop whining already. You're making him feel bad." Turning to Danny and ignoring Luffy's cheers, he smiled reassuringly. "Don't mind him. He's just upset because he's a glutton for meat. We'll have the feast the next time you come."

Relieved and grateful, he smiled. "Thanks. See ya!"

The Straw Hats said their goodbyes as he left the cabin, hurrying through the forest until the cabin was out of sight before transforming into Phantom and flying the rest of the way back to Amity Park.

Maybe this could work after all.


	4. Ghostly Fly On the Wall

**I don't own One Piece or Danny Phantom.**

Shutting the cabin door behind him, Danny began making his way through the forest. Five minutes later, however, an invisible Danny Phantom returned.

It had quickly become clear to the halfa when he showed up that day that something was off with Sanji. He was noticeably tense and irate. It was clearly a struggle for him to keep from snapping at the others, and whenever he did go off he would sigh as a silent apology. But what really marked the cook's behavior as unusual was the sympathetic yet concerned glances the Straw Hats gave him after each incident. It was after the fifth outburst that Danny decided he should leave, reassuring them that he'd come back another time and apologizing for his poor timing. The Straw Hats had also apologized, promising that Sanji normally wasn't like that and that he would be okay by his next visit.

That being said, he was still concerned, and part of him wasn't sure if Sanji was actually going to be okay. So here he was, essentially about to spy on them.

But before he could even approach the cabin, the door opened, Zoro and Sanji walking out.

"Damn witch, making us come out here to fight..."

"Don't call her that, shithead!"

Danny flinched at the harsh tone, deciding to keep his distance and rely on his enhanced hearing to make out the words instead of getting any closer.

"Or what? It's not like a prissy love cook like you can actually hurt me."

"You fucker!"

Danny winced as the two began to fight. But only seconds into the fight, it became obvious that this wasn't the same kind of fight as the other ones he had witnessed between them. For one, Danny could feel the uncontained fury of each kick Sanji threw at Zoro, the power of those kicks being much more than the halfa had ever felt from the blond before. It terrified him.

Unable to bring himself to move, he continued watching. He could feel the dread fill him as he counted each time Zoro blocked Sanji's kicks with his swords.

The swordsman had yet to make a single attack.

He had to do something. Desperate to end the one-sided fight, Danny raced to the cabin, almost phasing inside only to halt as he considered what he was doing. The Straw Hats were friends with Danny Fenton, not Danny Phantom. He could try to get their attention in some way or overshadow one of the Straw Hats, but that thought disturbed him. If they ever found out what he did, there was no doubt they'd hate him (in Danny's mind at least). And he had a feeling the last thing he wanted was to be their enemy.

The truth was he couldn't do anything. That realization left him feeling helpless to watch them tear each other apart. But when he turned to the two fighting Straw Hats, he began to notice the subtleties of the fight.

Zoro was visibly concerned, but it wasn't for himself. Instead, his worry seemed to be directed toward Sanji, who was no doubt furious, but it was not at Zoro. No, the blond's fury was for something else entirely. Danny could feel it.

Suddenly this fight looked like nothing more than displaced aggression being taken out on a friend.

Even if that was all this fight was, Danny couldn't help but feel uneasy about it, especially as it dragged on.

"It sounds pretty bad... Are you sure they're alright?"

Danny turned in shock toward the cabin. The voice had come from inside.

"Sanji needs this, and Zoro's the only one who can do it. Besides, if we go out there now, we'll only be getting in the way."

When no one else said anything, Danny turned away, still nervous despite the certainty in Luffy's voice.

Sanji's energy was finally starting to run out.

"Damn it! Damn fucking shitty bastards! Goddamn it all!" Giving one final kick, he paused, panting in exhaustion as he finally collapsed onto his knees.

Zoro said nothing, only putting his swords away after quickly inspecting them. But even after the blond had caught his breath, neither spoke, the silence unnerving Danny as he worried for how the next exchange (for there would surely be one, or else they would've went inside already) would turn out.

"Sorry."

Danny's eyes went wide at Sanji's words.

"What are you apologizing for?"

"I..." He looked up at Zoro, his visible eye shining with a vulnerability that made Danny suddenly feel like he was intruding on a private moment (he was). "I wasn't holding back. And you weren't even fighting—"

"And if I did, you would've gotten hurt." Sanji, offended by the swordsman's words, was about to retort when Zoro, having known the blond would react that way, explained, "I'm not saying you're weak. When you were attacking me, you weren't thinking, not like you normally do when we spar. You were leaving yourself wide open with each kick." There was a moment of silence to acknowledge the unspoken implication of that statement. "Besides, I think you know that's not what this fight was for."

Sanji sighed, clearly weighed down by something. "I just couldn't help it. It's all so damn frustrating!"

Zoro silently sighed in understanding, opting to sit against the nearest tree.

Neither of them moved, the gentle breeze and silent companionship creating a calming atmosphere between the two that Danny didn't think was possible.

When Sanji finally stood up, he turned his back to the swordsman, smiling softly as he almost whispered, "Thank you..." As he began to make his way to the cabin, he called, "Come on, marimo, let's go inside. The last thing I want is to have to find your useless ass."

Zoro grunted, smirking almost fondly as the blond disappeared inside the cabin.

Satisfied that things really would be okay (it turned out there was nothing to worry about in the first place), Danny smiled in relief, finally relaxing as he flew away from the cabin.


	5. Not So Normal After All

**This chapter is a longer one, and it's the end of the semester rush, so I took a week off to properly edit this chapter. Thanks for waiting. I hope this chapter is worth the wait.**

**I don't own One Piece or Danny Phantom.**

The cabin was in total chaos when he arrived that day. Just standing outside the door, he could hear Luffy shout, "Robin said the nearest one opened yesterday!"

"I wanna go too!"

"Have you even seen the weather today?"

"Is it supposed to rain?"

"No, but—"

"Then what's the problem?"

"It's windy, cloudy, and the water park just opened yesterday."

A water park? Oh. Shoot. Ignoring the rest of whatever he could discern from the discussion, Danny debated leaving and coming back another day. He had long since discovered that cold water did not bode well for a halfa, specifically one with an ice core like himself. Going to the water park with them could be disastrous.

Just as he was turning to leave, however, the door flew open, startling the teen into jumping with a yelp of surprise.

"Oh! Danny! We were just about to go to the water park. You should come with us!"

He winced slightly. Could he really bring himself to decline now that they knew he was here?

Sanji smiled sympathetically at him. "We tried to convince him otherwise, but once his mind's up, there's no fighting it."

"Honestly. He can't even swim." Nami turned to Luffy, who was in the midst of dancing with Usopp in excitement. "You better not get us kicked out. And remember, we're supposed to be normal people, got it?"

The two paused, Luffy nodding in a semi-serious manner. "Yeah."

Zoro turned to Danny. "You coming?"

"Actually, where are the others? Aren't they coming?"

Sanji rose an eyebrow at the question. "Water parks aren't exactly private."

For a second, he stared dumbly at the blond. Then, it dawned on him, and Danny almost slapped himself for his stupidity. "Oh. Right. Kind of forgot about that."

Sanji almost laughed, grinning as he replied, "No shit."

"So are you joining us?"

Danny hesitated. The Straw Hats didn't know about his problem with cold water. They thought he was normal.

At his lack of response, Nami smiled apologetically. "You don't have to come if you don't want to."

"No, I do, but—"

"Then let's go!" Luffy shouted before running off, Usopp quickly following with a shout of, "Wait for me!"

Crap.

Well... that just happened.

It all happened so quickly. He hadn't been thinking when he said that, and now that his mind had finally caught up, it was too late.

"Are you alright, Danny?"

Only Robin was still there with him, the others having gone ahead after Luffy without him realizing it.

"O-Oh. I'm fine. We should go catch up with the others."

Upon receiving no immediate response, Danny began walking, Robin joining him.

"Nothing stays a secret forever." Danny's eyes widened in fear. Did she know? How? Had she seen him transform? "You shouldn't wait too long if you want to tell us yourself."

She knew he was hiding something. Danny weakly nodded, not trusting his voice to come out steady.

Neither of them spoke again the rest of the way to the water park, even after catching up to the others.

Although Danny knew this outing would quickly go out of hand (he could tell just from his first meeting with Luffy how easily he could get them into trouble), he was still surprised when it happened only seconds after getting inside the water park.

"Ooh! That giant slide over there looks awesome! Let's go there first!" Abandoning his stuff, Luffy began running toward the attraction, ignoring the startled shouts of various people as he passed them and the loud whistle of a life guard demanding he walk.

"Hey! Wait up!" Usopp hurriedly set his stuff down before speed walking after Luffy.

"At least Usopp had the decency to walk and not run?" It was more of a question than a statement, Danny clearly trying to find something good to say about the situation. It didn't work.

Nami sighed, muttering, "Couldn't those idiots wait for even a minute?" as she reached down to pick up the abandoned bags.

"Let me carry those. You shouldn't have to burden yourself with these idiots' bags." Sanji took the two bags, adding them to his own with little effort.

"Thank you, Sanji. Now let's go find a spot to leave our stuff."

The remaining Straw Hats remained silent as they followed Nami through the park, eventually finding an empty section of lounge chairs at the edge of the park. Considering the area was almost hidden from all of the main attractions and the weather wasn't ideal for visiting a water park, it wasn't surprising.

As Danny looked around though, he realized they were short a member. "Where's Zoro?"

The three remaining Straw Hats turned around, eyes wide in what Danny assumed was disbelief until he heard Nami groan, "You've got to be kidding me. _Again_?! It'll take hours to find him in a park as big as _this_ one!"

Again? Zoro's wandered off before? "Surely it wouldn't take that long to find him, right?" Then again... didn't Sanji say something about finding Zoro before?

"No, it's really that bad. He gets lost in the cabin all the time, and we've been there for an entire month now."

"Not to mention that one time that damn marimo decided to take a stroll in the forest and I had to find him. I missed preparing lunch and was delayed with dinner because of him. It's a miracle I didn't have to look all night too."

Danny's eyes went wide in amazement. "You're serious." They nodded. "How?"

Sanji shrugged nonchalantly. "Trying to understand is just asking to lose some brain cells."

"I'm getting a headache just thinking about finding him."

"I can help. It'd be a lot easier for me to find him than for you guys." The words had only just left his mouth, the three Straw Hats staring at him in a mixture of surprise and confusion, when he realized what he had said. "W-What I mean is I know someone who'd be willing to help."

Robin eyes shined in piqued interest, something Danny was quick to note.

"And you're sure they could find the mosshead faster?"

"I'm sure."

"In that case, you'll take care of finding Zoro when it comes time to leave. Is that okay, Danny?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Thanks." She sighed to herself. "Now that that's settled, let's enjoy ourselves before Luffy gets us kicked out." Nami walked to a chair near the corner of the park, setting down her bag and laying on the chair.

"Aren't you going into the water?" Danny asked as they put their stuff on a chair next to hers.

"Someone's got to watch our stuff, right? Besides, it's no fun on a day like this one. I'd be freezing the moment I got out."

"Tell me about it," Danny muttered under his breath.

"I'll also be staying. I just started a new book and would like to keep reading it." Robin adjusted the empty chair on Nami's other side, pulling her book out of her bag before settling in the chair.

Sanji visibly deflated at their words. "Should I get you two a drink then?"

Nami briefly considered the idea, frowning as she answered, "As nice as that sounds, everything in these parks is too expensive. You can make me something later when we get back to the cabin."

The blond suppressed a sigh, knowing that there was no good reason to stay with the two ladies. "Alright then." He turned to Danny, who had remained silent during the whole exchange. "So, Danny. Is there anything you wanna do? I'm open to suggestions."

He considered his options. The water was almost certainly too cold, and since this was a water park, there wasn't much else to do. He would've asked to stay, but the small exchange he had just witnessed made it clear he'd have to explain his reasoning for staying, something he definitely wanted to avoid, especially with Robin in the group. "How about we test the water temperature first? I get cold easily." Not technically a lie, but it would only buy time.

"Sure, sounds fine to me."

They walked around a bit in silence, Sanji suddenly stopping at the wave pool. Before Danny could ask, he glanced at the pool, his eyes immediately spotting a head of green. "Isn't that..."

Sanji grinned. "Hey! There you are, shitty marimo!" Danny cringed at the condemning stares of the present visitors. "I thought we were going to have to spend hours finding you! What are you doing?"

Zoro turned around to face them, ignoring the waves as they passed him. "Hm? Oh, it's just you. You guys got lost, and I was tired of looking for you, so I decided to do some training."

"_We_ got lost?! _You're_ the one with the shitty sense of direction, shitty swordsman!" Having forgotten Danny's presence, Sanji waded into the wave pool toward Zoro. The witnessing people remained silent, eyes darting from the swordsman to the blond, a few even glancing at Danny. Danny nearly winced as he saw someone murmur something before quickly walking off, probably to alert the security officials, more people showing up even as that person left.

Crap. They were in trouble. Didn't Nami say something about not getting attention? This couldn't be good. Sure, Zoro and Sanji wouldn't actually be trying to hurt each other, but no one knew that. He needed to calm them down, but only someone with Luffy's authority or Nami's influence could do it. There wasn't time to get Nami, and it would take even longer to find Luffy, meaning Danny was the only one who could do something. He had to try.

Determined to stop them, he took a few steps into the wave pool, stopping almost immediately as the numbingly cold water touched his feet. The water was even colder than he expected it to be. What kind of water park was this? He could feel his core pulsing inside his chest, his feet already throbbing painfully from the cold. He shivered.

This water was bad news. It just might be capable of killing him. Looking at the two Straw Hats in hopes that they've realized there was a crowd watching them argue, he was dismayed to see that they hadn't noticed the silently watching crowd.

Afraid and desperate, Danny shouted, "Hey!" in hopes of catching their attention.

They didn't respond in any way. Had they tuned out their surroundings so much?

The crowd's stares snapped to him, Danny almost going invisible but barely managing to stop himself. The guards would be here any minute. Oh, _god_. He was really going to have to go in there, wasn't he? One last time, he looked at them, but they remained unware of his predicament.

_"Nothing stays a secret forever."_

Trembling, he steeled himself for the numbness and began to walk in.

He had only taken a few steps in and he already couldn't feel his legs outside of the numb throbbing. The rest of him was shivering uncontrollably. He could feel the eyes on his back, but he kept going, keeping his gaze on the two Straw Hats. He had to stop them. Had to get there.

He didn't feel his legs give out. He didn't realize he had gone under until the throbbing had faded, his mind hazy as he vaguely noted that he was underwater. He tried to move, but he felt so heavy. So tired. So numb. His eyes drifted shut.

"Just admit it. You can't—"

A woman's terrified shriek broke the silence, the two pausing in shock.

As if a spell had been broken, the crowd exploded into a chorus of anxious murmurs, staring at the wave pool. Zoro and Sanji gaped in shock and confusion at the large crowd. A few were starting to wade in when the two Straw Hats heard someone yell, "Someone save him!"

Looking down, they saw a dark blur in the water, their eyes going wide in horror.

Danny.

They both looked back up at the crowd, this time noticing the teen's absence before glancing at each other in silent understanding of the situation, each seeing their own dread in the other's eyes.

Sanji dove down, quickly spotting the unconscious teen and scooping him up to the surface.

"Is he alri—"

"He's ice cold." Sanji's eyes were wide in alarm, his voice breathless in growing horror.

Wordlessly they left the water, ignoring the stunned gazes of the crowd as they absently stepped aside, opening a path through the crowd for the two Straw Hats to take. Having stepped out of the water, Sanji shivered at the coldness of the unconscious teen. For a frightening few seconds, the blond couldn't hear any sign of life from Danny, shakily breathing out in relief upon seeing the almost unnoticeable rise and fall of his chest.

They walked past the crowd only to see some security guards and lifeguards approach.

"What happened?"

"Is the kid still breathing?"

Someone from the crowd answered, "The kid almost drowned."

"We'll take care of him. We've already called the ambulance." The guard held out his hands, clearly waiting for Sanji to hand over Danny.

Sanji frowned, instead tightening his hold on the teen. "Sorry, but we'll be taking care of him. We know a doctor."

"Listen, I understand your concern, but that kid needs treatment immediately. Let the professionals take care of him, okay?"

Zoro nearly growled, glaring dangerously at the guards. "Get out of our way."

Sanji, although just as frustrated, kept a calm demeanor. "Our doctor is probably more talented than whatever doctors are in that ambulance." Seeing the doubt in their eyes, Sanji added, "We won't let him die under our watch. Take my word for it."

They hesitated, the two Straw Hats moving past the guards before they could think to stop them.

Nami and Robin had already gathered their stuff (including Zoro's bag, which had been abandoned near the lazy river) when they had arrived. News of the commotion had spread through the park like wildfire, Nami and Robin realizing they would have to leave quickly once it reached them. What they hadn't expected was for Zoro and Sanji to come running with an unconscious Danny in tow.

Alarmed, Nami asked, "What happened?! Is Danny alright?" What was she thinking? Of course he wasn't alright!

Sanji didn't waste a second to answer, "He's ice cold and barely breathing. We're not sure what happened to him."

"We need to get him to Chopper and _fast_. He's pretty pale." Zoro's voice held a hint of worry that uneased the others. Looking at the teen again, her worry only grew. He looked like a ghost.

They dried him off with a towel before wrapping him in another one, Nami gasping in shock as she felt the teen's skin. "He's cold!"

"I've told Luffy and Usopp to meet us outside. We should avoid the front entrance." Robin turned to the fence behind their chairs. Looking around for cameras, she found one overlooking the section. Turning her back to it, she crossed her arms and sprouted an arm near the camera, swiftly covering the lens with the palm of the extra limb's hand. She sprouted another arm pointing to the fence, keeping her voice down as she said, "We'll leave by climbing the fence. I've blocked the camera from seeing us."

The others nodded, allowing Robin to assist them over the fence with her powers. Only when they had long since cleared the area did she release the arm covering the camera.

Luffy and Usopp found them not too long after. They were initially confused and upset, but upon seeing an unconscious Danny being carried on Sanji's back, they sobered, any complaints they had dying before they could be articulated.

They remained silent even after arriving at the cabin, quickly delivering Danny to their worried doctor, who immediately took to warming the teen up and checking his vitals in the infirmary, the others, Brook and Franky joining them, gathering inside the infirmary as well.

While Chopper measured his vitals, Zoro and Sanji explained to the others what had happened.

"He said he wanted to test the water first and that he gets cold easily."

Chopper frowned, having long since finished his treatment. "Even so, getting hypothermia from being in the water for only about a minute shouldn't happen in a water park. That only happens with freezing temperatures, and a water park would never have water that cold."

"He has hypothermia?!"

"_Had_." Chopper frowned. "The symptoms are gone now, so I think he's okay..." The uncertainty in his voice made it clear there was something confusing the young reindeer.

"You _think_ he's okay?"

Chopper sighed, somewhat frustrated. "His vitals are all dangerously low for a human, but he seems stable... He doesn't seem to be in any danger, but his vitals are so _low_."

"Which vitals?"

"His body temperature and heart rate. He's also not breathing as frequently."

The Straw Hats fell silent, stunned by the revelation and somewhat worried by the reindeer's report. Danny was a normal human like Nami... right? Now they were starting to think that wasn't the case.

Danny stirred, groaning a little before sluggishly opening his eyes. "What happened to me?"

The Straw Hats gathered around the bed he laid in, owlishly wide eyes staring at him in baffled silence. Hopelessly confused by their stares, Danny stared back at them in discomfort.

Robin chortled in amusement before asking, "How are you feeling?"

Relieved to have a distraction, Danny relaxed, sitting up with ease despite feeling a little lethargic. "Fine, I think. Still a little cold, but that's not really surprising considering I—" He abruptly cut himself off, eyes going wide as he realized what he was saying.

_—have an ice core._

His abrupt pause had snapped the Straw Hats out of their bewilderment. "Considering what?"

"Uh—it's nothing. I'm sorry I worried you all."

"Danny, are you really sure you're okay? Chopper said that your heart rate and body temperature are too low."

Danny shifted in growing nervousness, his hand instinctively moving to rub the back of his neck. "Listen... it's hard to explain, but I really am fine. It's a normal heart rate and body temperature for me, I promise."

"Danny."

All eyes snapped to Luffy. "You're hiding something from us."

Danny stiffened, internally squirming under Luffy's stare. The certainty in Luffy's voice made it sound more like a fact than a question. Before he could figure out what to say, Luffy gave an almost imperceptible sigh. "Look, I don't really care about your past or any of that stuff... but what you're hiding got you hurt. I don't want to see my friends get hurt."

Danny looked down at the bedsheets, unable to look Luffy in the eye any longer. "I..." He hesitated. This wasn't how he wanted this to go. He wasn't ready to tell them. But the longer the silence dragged, the less ready he felt. It was only then that he realized he would never be ready to tell them, and now he had no choice _but_ to tell them.

"I'm sorry." He didn't look up, trembling as his free hand tightly gripped the bedsheets. "Really. I know I should've said something sooner, but I wasn't ready to tell you guys yet." He breathed out, gathering the last of his nerves before slowly looking up at them. "You see... I'm not really human. At least not entirely."

No one said anything, letting the meaning of Danny's words sink in.

Clearly hesitant yet too agitated to remain silent, Usopp asked, "If you're not human... then what are you?"

Danny frowned. He was a freak. They just didn't know it yet.

But he had to say it. "I..." He shut his eyes in terror. He had to take the plunge. Before he could change his mind, his eyes shot open, staring directly at them.

Now or never.

"I'm half-ghost."

Their eyes went wide. Danny subconsciously moved back, eyes wide as he watched for any sign of danger, ready to flee at the first sign. They were going to reject him, they were going to reje—

"That..." Danny flinched, almost turning intangible when Luffy's eyes began to sparkle in awe. "That's so cool!"

"W-What?" He was still trembling. They... they accepted him?

Why couldn't he stop shaking?

"Danny?" A hand—Luffy's hand, he numbly noted—was suddenly on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

He looked at the others' faces, some staring in almost concealed fear, the rest filled with surprise or disbelief, but they all held worry and care for him in their eyes. He turned to look at Luffy, sincere concern evident in his eyes as he patiently waited for his answer.

They really did care about him. But despite their attempts to hide it, Danny could see that they were scared. No, he was not okay, but they were trying, all for his sake. "I-I will be."

Luffy nodded before removing his hand. "So you're actually a ghost?"

He finally stopped shaking, thankful for the tense heaviness of the room to be lifted. "Well, only half. I'm still human."

"Hold on, how is that possible? I've seen lots of crazy shit, but I haven't seen anything that was both dead and alive." Brook seemed ready to answer, Sanji quickly turning toward the musician and adding, "And you don't count because you were revived. That's different."

"That's still weird," Usopp muttered to himself, Danny almost laughing at the comment.

Upon seeing their expectant stares, Danny sighed. "It's a long story... basically, I was in a lab accident, and the ectoplasm in the ghost portal bonded to my DNA. So yeah... half-human, half-ghost."

"Does that make you some kind of superhero with ghost powers?!" Chopper asked excitedly, the idea of being friends with a superhero momentarily overpowering his many questions of what being both dead and alive would entail.

"W-What?! Uh—I have _no_ idea what you're talking about." Danny laughed nervously.

Ignoring Danny's response, Luffy asked, "You mean like that one ghost guy?" He put a finger to his chin in an exaggerated thinking pose. "What was his name..." Luffy comically lifted his head up, a silly smile on his face as he victoriously shouted, "Vandal!"

Danny nearly choked, eyes wide in incredulity. He almost missed Sanji's amazed correction. "Phantom."

Luffy paused, considering the blond's response for a moment before shrugging. "Eh, close enough."

"Are you kidding me?! I—Phantom's not a vandal!"

Deciding to change the topic, Nami asked, "Since you're part ghost, you have ghost powers, right?"

Danny frowned in discomfort. Although they accepted that he was half-ghost, he wasn't mentally prepared to talk about it in detail."Well... yes, but I don't really want to talk about it right now."

"You _will_ tell us anything that's important, right?"

Danny nodded sincerely. "I just need time to mentally prepare myself, I guess. To be honest, I've wanted to tell you guys the truth from the start, but I was always too scared to."

A few of the Straw Hats were genuinely confused by his confession. "Why? You've _seen_ us. It doesn't matter what you are. Heck, you'll fit right in with us!"

"I was afraid I might've been an exception." His face darkened. "It's not everyday you meet someone who's both dead and alive."

None of the Straw Hats were sure what to say. It was obvious that something was wrong, but none of them were sure what exactly it was, and trying to find out now, with a secret like his so recently revealed, was likely to only make things worse.

"Does anyone else know?"

"About me being a halfa? Three others. Not counting the ghosts, that is."

Noting the unfamiliar term, Zoro asked, "Halfa?"

"It's what the other ghosts say I am."

"They're human then?" Upon seeing Danny's confused glance, Robin elaborated. "The three that know."

"Yeah. I was hoping to introduce them to you if I ever told you what I was, and well... here we are."

Luffy smiled. "Sure you can! You trust them, don't you?"

Danny nodded wholeheartedly. "I don't know what I'd do without them."

"Then I want to meet them! Be sure to bring them over sometime!"

Danny smiled at the idea. "I will."

"Speaking of your friends... do they know you're here?"

Understanding why Nami would ask, Danny answered honestly. "No. I haven't told them about you guys yet. I wanted to make sure you guys were okay with them knowing before I told them anything." No one responded. Confused, Danny asked, "Why?"

"Um... I'm not sure if you noticed, little bro, but it's _super_ dark outside."

"Huh?" Turning to the window, he nearly gasped in shock. It was dark outside, meaning it had to be near pitch black since his vision was enhanced. "Oh man, what time is it?! I promised Jazz I'd be back before dinner!"

"Speaking of which, I made extra for you." Sanji smiled apologetically. "I'm part of the reason you ended up like this, so it's the least I can do."

Danny, although touched by the blond's kindness, knew he had to decline. "That's really nice, and I really appreciate it, but my sister's probably freaking out right now, and my friends probably know I'm gone as well, so I really can't stay."

Understanding Danny's feelings, Sanji sighed. "If you really can't stay, then the least you could do is take it with you."

Danny considered the idea. He knew from the feast that Sanji's food was good, arguably the best he would ever taste, and the opportunity to take some of the chef's cooking with him was appealing. Not to mention it might spare him from Jazz's exasperated admonishment of his late arrival. "Yeah, I'll take it with me. Uh... it'll probably get cold if I fly it back, so will reheating it be okay?"

"That should be fine. Two minutes, tops."

"Got it."

Suddenly realizing what Danny had so casually mentioned (and he had answered as if it were completely normal), Sanji's eyes went wide. "Wait, you can _fly_?!"

Danny slightly winced. He forgot they still weren't used to the casual mention of flying. Not that he blamed them. "Yeah."

"That's so cool!"

It wasn't any different than the first time Luffy said it, but this time the excited shout rang in his sensitive ears, Danny grimacing in pain as he muttered, "Maybe not so loud? Enhanced hearing isn't all it's cracked up to be."

Luffy's eyes grew even wider (much to Danny's amazement), clearly about to shout again when a hand clamped his mouth shut, effectively muffling the noise. Relieved by the intervention, Danny sent a grateful glance to Zoro, who acknowledged the silent thanks with a small nod.

He glanced at Luffy, releasing his hand after seeing that Luffy had calmed down. Smiling, Luffy laughed a little. "Sorry about that."

"Well, I better get going. Maybe Jazz won't kill me if I give her some of the food you made. Well, the half I have left that is."

Despite being a skeleton, Brook looked like he had just gotten his Christmas present early.

Nami groaned. "God, not another one..."

Robin chortled in amusement.

Luffy laughed, a few others smiling to themselves.

"I'll go pack the food for you." Sanji left the room, heading to the kitchen.

"We should wait for Sanji in the living room. It won't take him long to pack the food."

The others agreed, following Nami out of the infirmary. Smiling, Danny followed, getting out of the bed and making his way to the doorway.

"Danny?"

He paused, turning around to find that Chopper had lingered.

Taking the halfa's attention as an invitation to continue, he hesitantly asked, "Can you tell me more about halfas when you come next time? As the doctor, I want to be able to take care of you if you ever get sick or hurt."

Feeling the sincerity in the reindeer's voice, Danny's chest tightened almost painfully. "Y-Yeah, of course. I don't really know that much, but I'll tell you what I do know. Just... don't tell the others unless you have to... okay?"

Sensing the teen's insecurity, Chopper nodded. "Okay. Unless they need to know, this'll stay between you and me."

"Thanks, Chopper. It means a lot to me."

"Let's go join the others." Danny nodded, following Chopper out of the infirmary and into the living room, just in time for Sanji to exit the kitchen, a container filled with food in his hands.

"Here's the food. It should be enough for both you and your sister. Jazz, right?"

"Yeah. Thanks." Danny took the container from Sanji. Realizing it wasn't a disposable to-go box, Danny frowned. "I—"

"Don't worry about returning it. We have extras."

Not satisfied with the blond's explanation, Danny replied, "It's okay. I'll bring it back the next time I visit."

Sanji sighed, smiling almost fondly. "If you insist."

Content, Danny left the cabin, the Straw Hats gathering at the doorway to see him off.

He was about to walk off into the woods when he remembered that the Straw Hats now knew he was half-ghost. They must've known he would be flying home, and they were going to have to see his ghost half eventually, so why not show them the whole transformation now?

Although nervous, he turned around, smiling shakily at them. "Wanna see something cool?"

They nodded excitedly.

"Watch." Here goes. Willing his transformation, a bright white ring sparked into existence around his waist before splitting up and down his body, replacing his white t-shirt and blue jeans with a black and white hazmat suit, his hair turning snow white and his eyes glowing green.

Danny Fenton had become Danny Phantom.

His eyes shone nervously as he gazed at them. "Promise not to tell anyone?"

They slowly nodded, too awed to speak.

Danny laughed, allowing himself to float in the process. But instead of snapping them out of their amazement, his casual use of powers only served to further astonish them.

Deciding it was time, he smiled at them. "See ya!" He vanished, having gone invisible before flying back to Amity Park.

For what felt like an eternity, no one moved, their eyes still locked onto the spot Danny had been before _becoming invisible_.

"He really is a superhero."

"Holy shit."

"We're friends with Danny Phantom."

They all turned their heads to stare at each other. Then, as one, they turned back to the same spot as before.


	6. The Beginning of a New Normal

**Just a quick note: I will answer any questions you may have about this story, especially if I need to clarify something. I've been replying to them individually, but if you feel that I should post the answers (or the answer to a specific question) in the story, I will do so at the beginning of the chapter. As for guests that have questions, I will answer them here since I can't send them PMs.**

**Clam (guest): I can see it going one of two ways, and even I wasn't sure which one it would be: 1) because of his ice core, Danny is more adapted to colder weather, meaning he gets hot easier, or 2) because of his ice core, Danny gets cold easier and is more tolerant of the heat. Before he could control his ice powers, he actually got cold easier, mostly because the cold energy (or something like that) was building up inside of him and overcharging him. But once he was able to control his powers, that stopped being a problem. My guess is that he still gets cold easier in his human form (though to a lesser extent since he has full control of his ice powers) but not in his ghost form (maybe in this form he gets hot easier? It'd be interesting, to say the least). That being said, Danny's still prone to hypothermia (at least in his human form), and with what may as well be an ice cube inside of him, I want to think that water would feel colder to Danny than others. A part of me also imagines that his ice core reacts to the cold water, spreading that coldness throughout his body. It's kind of like the feeling of being hit by a splash of water that's not necessarily cold, but it's colder than the rest of the water, so it feels freezing, and that cold feeling spreads. Hopefully that made some sense.**

**Guest: I've gotten this question before, and I recognize I haven't been clear enough in this story. Well, I'll clarify everything here. The Straw Hats were incorporated into the Danny Phantom world, but not through a natural portal. The Straw Hats are part of the Danny Phantom world. In other words, the One Piece world doesn't exist (if it does, it'd be a different dimension they'd be unfamiliar with). As such, the Thousand Sunny doesn't exist, but other aspects of the One Piece world have been incorporated to be a part of the Danny Phantom world. If devil fruits exist, they won't be referred to that way. They'd probably look and taste like normal fruits but retain the same effects, hence why there wouldn't be a name for them since no one who knows about them (the ones who eat them are likely the only ones who know) can identify how they got the powers they did (and those who figure out it was a fruit wouldn't be able to understand what makes them different or be able to tell them apart from the normal fruits). Basically, a person who unknowingly ate one of these fruits would suddenly get powers. The fruits don't look any different from normal, so these people, depending on their new abilities, would either keep them a secret in an effort to keep a normal life or go into hiding to avoid being seen as a monster or freak (they'd likely either be locked up or experimented on since no one would understand what happened). The Straw Hats are a mix of normal and not normal people, so they stay in hiding together, going from place to place as they're discovered. Since all of the "devil fruit" people are hidden, the world seems normal, meaning anyone who tries to reveal a "devil fruit" person would be ignored by everyone until they saw it for themselves, and by then, the "devil fruit" person (or in this case, the Straw Hats) would have already left to another town. This takes us to their current location: an abandoned cabin just outside of Amity Park. I hope that clarifies for everyone the kind of world this series takes place in and the Straw Hats' situation.**

**I don't own One Piece or Danny Phantom.**

Danny nervously paced in front of the door, his ghostly tail twitching at each turn he made. Should he change back to Fenton? He had only briefly revealed his ghost half barely a few days ago... It might not have sunk in yet. But still... they were going to have to get used to his ghost powers at some point, right?

Baby steps. He stopped pacing, ghostly tail forming into two legs. He'd take it nice and slow. Deciding to let gravity pull him to the ground but maintaining his ghost form, he knocked on the door.

"Yay! Danny's here! Now he can take me flying!"

Did he just hear that right?

"Idiot! He isn't a pet, you know."

"Course not! He's our friend!" Luffy somewhat offendedly replied.

"I'm going to be helping a real superhero... I won't let him down!"

"Another mouth to feed won't be a problem for me." Danny could hear the confident smile Sanji had on his face.

"Ooh! Food sounds good! Sanji, make me some meat!"

He could hear the disbelief in the blond's voice as he asked, "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"Huh?"

Robin chuckled, and Danny could just make out the light tap of Nami's hand slapping her face as a long sigh of exasperation left her lips. "Danny's here, remember?"

"Oh yeah! I was gonna go flying! Danny, take me flying!"

"You have to let him in first."

"Oh. Right." Footsteps began approaching the door.

Nami sighed more softly to herself. "Honestly... I sure hope Danny knows what he's getting himself into by hanging with us."

Forgetting the door hadn't been opened yet, he peeked his head through it, ignoring the fact that his face was inches away from Luffy, and nonchalantly responded, "Of course I do."

Nami screamed in shock, the others jumping in surprise, startled upon seeing that he had peeked _through_ the door.

"Shit! Don't _do_ that!"

Danny almost turned invisible in shame. He had just told himself that he was going to take things slow, and here he was shoving his head through doors like it was the most normal thing a person could do.

Luffy laughed loudly. For a moment, Danny stared at him in shock, but upon seeing the other Straw Hats start to smile, Danny bashfully phased the rest of the way inside before allowing himself to laugh with Luffy. The initial shock having passed, the others also began to laugh, the more reserved ones lightly chuckling.

Feeling better but still feeling the need to apologize, Danny sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry about scaring you guys like that... I wasn't really thinking." And it was true. He wasn't sure how, but he had gotten so caught up in the familiarity of the Straw Hats' bickering that he had forgotten that they weren't used to seeing him do ghostly things like phasing through the door to reply to a comment he probably shouldn't have been able to hear in the first place.

Nami good-naturedly shook her head. "Maybe instead I should be asking what _we're_ getting into by inviting a halfa to hang out with us..."


	7. You're Danny

**I don't own One Piece or Danny Phantom.**

"First off, how similar are your two forms outside of appearance? Do you still have a skeleton and organs in your ghost form?" Chopper was perched on a stool, his back facing his desk, a clipboard in one hoof and a pencil in the other.

Danny nodded. "I also have an ice core in both forms. It's like the ghost version of a heart."

Chopper's ears twitched in interest. "So all ghosts have ice cores?"

"No. All ghosts have cores, but the type and size vary depending on the ghost's power level and origin."

"So a ghost with a weaker power level will have a smaller core." The halfa nodded. "That makes sense. Is there a way to measure the power level of a ghost?"

"The Guys in White made a scale for measuring power levels. My parents also use it."

"Then they have a tool to measure power levels with?"

Danny could sense the young doctor wanted to measure his power level. He frowned at the thought of actually taking the tool from his parents. "Yeah, but the last thing I want is for it to get a reading on me in front of my parents, so I avoid it whenever they have it out at home."

Chopper deflated a little, but he nodded in understanding. "I understand. Do you happen to know your power level? It's okay if you don't, but it sounds like power levels are important for understanding other things about ghosts."

Danny frowned in thought. The last time his power level had been measured had been before he developed his ice powers. It had to have changed since then. "The last time my power level was measured, it was a seven, but that was before I got my ice powers, so I'm pretty sure it's higher than that now."

"A seven out of...?"

"Out of ten. It's based on a scale of ten."

"I see." Chopper paused as he finished noting the information. Hesitantly, he asked, "Do you think it would be possible for me to get the tool needed to measure ghost power levels?"

"Maybe... Jazz and I might be able to get our parents to share that info... Or I could try to grab it, but it'd probably be too risky."

"Do they have blueprints for it?"

Although confused, Danny replied, "Yeah. My parents have blueprints for every invention they've ever made. Why?"

"Well, Franky's a really good builder, so I'm sure he could make the tool if we had a copy of the blueprints."

"A lot of my parents' inventions require ecto-energy to work though."

"Are you able to supply that in your ghost form?"

"I think so. If not, getting some from the lab shouldn't be too hard."

"Does that mean you can bring a copy of the blueprints?"

"Yeah. I can bring that as well as anything else I think could be useful for you guys to have, if that's okay."

Chopper genuinely smiled at the offer. "That would be great! Thank you, Danny." The reindeer glanced down at his clipboard for a moment before looking up at Danny again. "Can I get a measurement of your blood pressure and temperature in both forms? I also want to measure your breathing rate and heart rate if that's okay."

Danny nodded. "That's fine with me."

It was no surprise to either of them that the measurements were abnormally low by human standards. Chopper wrote the results down on the clipboard. As he was writing the final measurement, he commented, "I'm not sure what's normal for a ghost, but these are all lower than what a human would have." He looked up at Danny. "Since you're half ghost, your vitals are higher than a normal ghost, right?"

"Yeah. Or at least I'm pretty sure that's the case. Other ghosts feel cold to me, and humans feel warm, so I figured I was in between. Not to mention normal ghosts don't have heartbeats or need to breathe."

Chopper looked down at the clipboard, writing the information Danny shared. "Interesting... even though you have a ghost form and a human form, your vitals stay the same, making you different than normal ghosts and humans. That makes sense since you're a halfa."

Had Chopper not been preoccupied with his own thoughts, he'd have seen Danny shift away in discomfort from his remarks.

Unaware that Danny had felt anything, Chopper looked up from his notes. "How long have you been a halfa?"

"Several months. Ever since the accident at the beginning of freshman year, that is."

"And you're the only halfa?"

Danny hesitated, unsure whether to tell Chopper about Vlad. Perhaps he could... He'd just have to leave out the details. "No... I've met two others."

Chopper's eyes went wide in surprise. "Really? Did they become halfas or were they always halfas?"

"Uh... One used to be human. The other... It's complicated, but I guess she was always a halfa?" Seeing the reindeer's ears twitch in confusion and curiosity, Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "I'd rather not talk about that right now. Maybe... Maybe some other time."

"Okay, Danny. The water at the water park gave you hypothermia. Can you explain how that happened? I'm worried it could happen again."

Relieved Chopper had changed the topic, he relaxed, dropping his hand as he shrugged. "You've probably already guessed, but it's because of my ice core. As Phantom, it's not a problem, but when I'm Fenton, I get cold easier. Thankfully, I've learned how to control my ice powers, so it's not as much of an issue as it was when I first developed my core, but my ice core reacts when I'm in cold water, and that brings my temperature down. This happens with both forms, but it isn't as big of a deal in my ghost form unless it's extremely cold. Can't say the same for my human half though."

"I see." Chopper took a moment to finish writing. "You're still half human, so does that mean you can still get human illnesses?"

"Yeah, I think. I got a cold once... but nothing else since the accident."

"Hmm... Do you know if you're more susceptible or resistant to certain illnesses?"

Now that Danny thought about it, he wasn't sure. He usually didn't get sick, and despite that not changing since becoming half ghost, it hadn't been long enough to know for sure how his ghost half would affect that, if at all. "I'm not really sure. I don't usually get sick, and I haven't had my powers for very long, so I'm not sure if my ghost half has any effect on my chances of getting sick. Nothing seems different to me so far..."

Chopper thought for a moment, staring at his notes in concentrated silence. "How about when you caught that cold? Did that affect your ghost half in any way?"

"Nothing about it seemed too different... It was harder to take care of the ghosts though since I was sick." He smiled at the memory. "Sam and Tucker had to force me to rest more." He gave a short laugh. "It really sucked."

"So Sam and Tucker are your friends?"

"Yeah. They were there when the accident happened, so they've known from the start."

"Oh. That's good." Looking down at his notes, the reindeer quickly remembered the question he had wanted to ask. "So your powers weren't affected when you got the cold?"

"No, not really, but I didn't have my ice powers at the time, so I'm not sure if those would have been affected or not."

"Then... I should be able to treat any illnesses you get the same way I would a normal human, right? I would only need to adjust them to fit your vitals."

Chopper clearly hadn't meant anything by what he said (the reindeer was doing what he could to get the information he needed without making Danny feel too uncomfortable or different, but there really wasn't a better way to say it), but Danny's mind could only focus on the reminder that he _wasn't_ a normal human. These kinds of questions were being asked—_had_ to be asked—because he wasn't _normal_. Because he was a—

"Yeah. As far as I know... that's normal." Hopefully that didn't change, but knowing _his_ luck...

The reindeer nodded at the confirmation. "How about ghost illnesses? Can ghosts get sick?"

He frowned in thought. "I haven't ever seen a sick ghost before... There _are_ things that hurt them, but I'm not sure if there are any illnesses they can get. At least not the kind humans get."

"Hmm... In that case, what _does_ hurt ghosts? Do those things hurt you too, since you're part ghost?" At the teen's lack of response, Chopper smiled apologetically. "Sorry... I just want to be prepared for anything that might happen, but if you'd like, we can stop for today."

"No, it's fine! I just…" He wasn't a ghost either. He didn't belong anywhere... because he was a freak that shouldn't—

"Danny? Are you sure you want to keep going?"

Chopper was concerned, and it was because of him. What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he shake these thoughts away? There was no reason to be feeling like this. "Yeah. I'm fine. Sorry for worrying you." He sighed, using the time it bought to remember the young doctor's questions. "Things that hurt ghosts usually hurt me too, but whether those things affect me in my human form depends on what it is."

"Can you tell me about them?"

Danny only nodded. "Naturally, ghosts can hurt other ghosts, but aside from the basic ghost powers, it's hard to predict their attacks the first time I fight them. Each ghost has a unique way of fighting, but I've learned to adapt, so I usually don't get hurt these days. I'm more likely to have problems with ghost hunters. Every weapon they use is designed to hurt ghosts in one way or another. It'd take forever to go through them all, so I'll just go through the basics. Most of the offensive weapons I have to deal with fire a blast or ray of ectoplasmic energy. They burn a little when it hits, but otherwise it doesn't hurt too much. Some weapons are made to mess with a ghost's powers in one way or another, usually to prevent them from using them. It basically makes them as helpless as a human." He frowned. "It really gets me into a lot of trouble when it happens."

Chopper looked up from the clipboard to ask for more details about that experience, but before he could even begin to speak, Danny continued.

"Other weapons are phase proof, meaning a ghost can't phase through it. Usually these are weapons designed to trap ghosts. Sometimes they shock you if you try to phase through it. Then there are ghost proof weapons, though they're usually defensive. The ghost shield is like a wall that ghosts can't pass through. Humans can, and when I'm human I can too. The specter deflector, on the other hand, zaps any ghost that touches the person wearing it, and it works on me in both forms. Basically, anything that's bad for a ghost is bad for me too."

Chopper hurried to finish writing, hoping to ask Danny a question before he shared more. He frowned as he wrote. Danny seemed determined to keep talking. It was helpful, but it almost felt like he was trying to avoid something. Was it because of something he said earlier?

"It's not just weapons. There are natural things that hurt ghosts too, specifically blood blossoms. Thankfully, they went extinct, but they could still be a problem. They're natural ghost repellents." Danny fell silent.

Chopper paused, puzzled by the abrupt silence. Figuring it meant this was a topic the teen was more comfortable talking about, Chopper asked, "If they're extinct, how do you know about them? I've never heard of blood blossoms before."

Danny frowned slightly. "The Ghost Zone, where ghosts live, is filled with portals that can lead to any place and any time. I once ended up in a time where blood blossoms were still around."

"Can you tell me what they look like?"

He smiled bitterly. "They're blood red flowers. I don't remember the details, but they were kind of like roses..." He sighed. "But I could be wrong. It's kind of hard to think about what something looks like when you're in pain."

Chopper's eyes went wide in shock and worry. "You were hurt by them?! What did they do to you?"

His eyes became unfocused. "I remember feeling an intense burning in my chest where my core is, like I was being burned from the inside out." He let out a flat, humorless laugh, his eyes darkening. "It's kind of like the whole exorcism thing you read about. The kind they do to vanquish evil spirits." He scoffed. "Pretty fitting since that's what they all saw me as. An evil spirit."

Chopper frowned in concern. Danny was definitely _not_ okay. "You're not an evil spirit, Danny. Just like some things are deadly for humans, some things are deadly for ghosts... uh, I mean..."

Danny smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I get what you're trying to say, Chopper. I at least know I'm not an evil spirit."

Chopper was hesitant to continue. The halfa looked like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown. But if he left the infirmary like this, the others would notice, and Chopper would be forced to tell them what he had learned from Danny during their session. He couldn't do that. Not when he had promised the teen he'd share as little as possible with the rest of the Straw Hats.

"You got another question?"

He could see it in the teen's eyes. He wanted a distraction.

So Chopper gave him one. "Those flowers would've killed you?"

"Probably."

"You said they were like repellents, so does that mean the closer you get to them, the more it hurts?"

"Yeah. Get thrown into a ring of them and all you _can_ feel is pain."

For a moment it was silent. "What's the cure?"

"Not sure I'd call it a cure. Tucker ate all of the blossoms affecting me. They don't affect humans. The pain didn't stop until he'd eaten the last one."

"You couldn't just move away from them?"

"No. Even though I was dragged away from them, it still hurt."

Chopper frowned, suspecting but afraid to ask.

But he needed to know for sure, so he did. "What if... What if there's no blood blossom to eat? If it somehow got inside a ghost through an injection or something, how would you treat that?"

Danny fell silent. Imagining the scenario that would lead up to that, he shivered, his face going pale. "That can't happen. No matter what, that can't happen."

"You're sure there isn't a natural cure for blood blossoms?"

"Well, I don't know of any."

Chopper eagerly took the chance to give the halfa some hope. "Then that means there might be one, right? We just haven't found it yet."

Danny slowly nodded, the color coming back to his face as the reindeer's words sank in. "Yeah... Yeah. There might be one."

"I think that's enough for today." He smiled apologetically at Danny. "I'm sorry if I was insensitive to your feelings with the questions I asked earlier. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, Danny."

"No, it's alright..." He shifted nervously, hesitant yet wanting to talk. "...Chopper?" The reindeer turned toward him, the clipboard having been placed on the desk behind him. "You're a hybrid like me... Have you ever felt like a freak?"

Chopper looked down at his hooves, a thoughtful yet distant smile on his face. "My herd abandoned me. And the humans that _did_ see me, even the ones that were also different... They all thought I was a monster. Whether I was a monster or a freak... I doubt it would've made much of a difference to me. So yeah... I've felt like a freak before."

Danny looked at the reindeer in shock. It felt like the reindeer-human hybrid had always been a part of the Straw Hats. They all seemed so tight-knit that it surprised him to discover that it might not have always been that way. "How do you... deal with it?"

"For a long time, I couldn't. I thought that no one would ever see me as anything but a monster." Chopper looked up at the halfa, smiling. "But then I met Luffy. He and the others accepted me the way I was. Sometimes, when people see me, they call me a monster, but I don't care anymore. It doesn't matter because I'm not alone anymore. My friends accept me and treat me like a normal person, and in the end... that's all I really need."

Danny remained silent, a sad smile on his face as he debated whether to voice his thoughts.

The sudden knock at the infirmary door jarringly broke the silence.

"Hey, Chopper! Are you guys done yet? I'm tired of waiting!"

Chopper shook his head fondly. "Yeah, we're done!"

The door opened, Luffy stepping inside. His excitement quickly faded when his eyes met Danny's. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, uh... It's nothing."

Luffy frowned, his eyes hardening in mild anger. "Tell me the truth."

Danny barely kept himself from wincing when the other Straw Hats paused from what they were doing, their heads turning toward the infirmary with confusion that quickly morphed into concern. Before long they were all gathered at the doorway.

Danny remained silent, afraid to share his thoughts with all of the Straw Hats there to hear it. It was more than he was comfortable with. "I can't... Not like this..."

Luffy stared at him. The halfa couldn't bring himself to look at him (or any of the others) though, his eyes instead glued to his knees.

"Everyone... Wait outside. You too, Chopper."

None of them protested, leaving the doorway without a word, Chopper closing the door as he left.

Luffy waited for a moment. "Now talk."

Danny shakily sighed, unsure where to start or what to say. "Why did you invite me to join your crew?"

"'Cause I like you. You're a good person."

"That's it?" Danny hesitated. "Not because I'm a freak?"

Luffy frowned but said nothing.

Danny gave a weak smile. "Jazz always tried to tell me not to take what people say about me too seriously. That I knew and she knew they were wrong about me... but that doesn't stop it from hurting." His voice cracked, throat starting to tighten.

He ignored it. "They accept me for what I am... but they don't understand what it's like... to live constantly aware of how different you really are from everyone else... to be afraid the wrong person will find out what you are... or that the people you care about will hate you if you tell them... Sometimes I feel lonely when I see them... They're human while I'm... dead, alive... ghost, human... both, neither... Sometimes I don't even know what I really am. Sure, I'm a halfa, but still..." His voice had become unsteady, some words barely squeezing out of his throat while others came out with ease.

"Sometimes I wonder if I should even exist."

Luffy's eyes slightly widened as tears began to escape the halfa's eyes.

"How I got this way was unnatural... I should've died that day... but I didn't. I'm not saying I should die... It just hurts to know I don't belong anywhere... because no one understands what I am... No one truly understands _me_."

Wordlessly, Luffy closed the distance between them.

Danny silently watched the sandaled feet stop in front of his own. Suddenly, he could feel a hat being pressed onto his head—

"Who cares what you are?"

Danny looked up in shock. Luffy grabbed his hand. "You exist. You're real."

But he shouldn't. He turned his hand intangible, pulling it—

Luffy's eyes hardened in forceful determination, his grip adjusting and trapping the teen's hand.

Danny's eyes went wide in shock. "H-How are you—"

"See? You exist. You're Danny. And Danny's my friend. You belong here. All of us know what it's like to be different..." He smiled. "Silly Danny. That's why we stick together!"

Danny stared in silence, suddenly remembering what Robin had told him.

_"Perhaps it's because of those differences that we understand each other on a deeper level."_

He understood now what she meant.

He smiled. "Yeah..." He stood, Luffy letting go of his hand as he did.

Turning around to leave the infirmary, Luffy began walking towards the door.

"Hey, Luffy..." He stopped. "Thank you."


	8. What It Means to Be a Hero

**Hey guys! Sorry this one took so long, but it's finally here! Just wanted to let you all know that you can check the progress on the updates for this story on my profile page. I've also made a section for some of my behind the scenes when it comes to writing this story. It includes things like what I based a certain scene on, some thoughts I had about certain lines, what I intended when I wrote a certain line or phrase, stuff like that. That's all on my profile page, and they're sorted by chapter, so it should be easier to find the parts I reference and avoid chapters you haven't yet reached. If any of that interests you, definitely go check it out!**

**I don't own One Piece or Danny Phantom.**

Danny capped the thermos, panting heavily, his glow flickering like a dying lightbulb. That made sixteen ghosts in the last hour.

What time was it? He could only sigh to himself. "Just a little longer... They've gotta be finishing up now..."

He wish he'd had the foresight to take the fight outside of the lab, but alas...

_-2 days ago-_

At 2:47am, a chill awakened the sleeping halfa. Phasing through the sheets, he transformed, grumbling, "Should've known the lack of ghosts today was too good to last."

Spontaneously, he sank through the floor into the lab. There, just in front of the portal, stood what looked to be some kind of oversized badger. He frowned. Was Vlad planning something? Regardless, he couldn't let it stay. Not when it might hurt his family. "Sorry to interrupt, but we're closed right now. Want me to point you to the nearest zoo?"

It turned toward him, snarling before launching itself at him.

He quickly dodged. "Guess that's a no." He fired an ectoblast at it, nailing it in the side. It cried, sliding back from the force. Danny pulled out his thermos, pointing it toward the ghost and activating it before the beast could recover.

Or so he thought. It quickly leaped away, darting toward him before forcefully slamming itself into his side, sending him flying, the thermos escaping his hands. He collided with a counter of some sort, his breath escaping him as he braced himself against the counter, his hands resting on the surface behind him.

A beep sounded behind him. Eyes going wide, Danny turned to see that his finger (did he press his _gloved_ finger against it _that_ hard, or was the scanner just that sensitive?) was on the genetic lock. He barely had time to process the green light on the finger scanner before the sound of the Ghost Portal opening had him turning back to the rest of the lab.

Thankfully, the ghost badger had also been distracted by the portal, for it had turned its head toward the now open portal.

Suddenly, a blast sent the distracted beast flying into the portal, which closed seconds later. But Danny barely had a chance to process the sudden interruption (too many things were happening at once and it was almost three in the morning) before another blast hit him away from the lock and onto the ground next to the thermos.

"What are _you_ doing here?"

He flinched at the hostile tone. Looking up toward the stairs leading to the rest of the house, he saw Maddie, a Fenton foamer aimed at him. Pulling himself up into a sitting position, he debated trying to explain. Deciding he could at least try, he said, "Well, I was trying to get rid of the other ghost, but now that he's back in the Ghost Zone, I should be going."

Her finger twitched on the trigger. "Don't move, or I'll shoot! You sabotaged our genetic lock on purpose didn't you?"

He almost waved his hands in front of himself but quickly remembered to stay still lest he get shot. "What? No! That was an accident, honest!"

"You can't fool me, ghost. It's in your nature to lie!"

He should've known she wouldn't believe him. Well, no point in trying. "If that's how you wanna see it, then fine. Now are you done?"

"Oh, I'm not done with you. You'll pay for daring to sneak into my home!" She pulled the trigger, Danny barely dodging in time. She quickly shot another blast, but by then Danny had escaped through the nearest wall (to her annoyance he had taken the thermos with him).

She frowned, debating on whether to attempt to find Phantom or turn on the ghost shield. Her gaze fell on the genetic lock, causing her to momentarily abandon the earlier decision in favor of inspecting the lock.

Phantom had somehow opened—sabotaged, she corrected—the portal just before she arrived. Ghosts didn't have DNA, and even if they did, the scanner on the lock was programmed to only accept Fenton DNA, and she had been the only one down there.

From the surface, nothing seemed to be wrong with it. She ungloved her hand and placed her finger on the scanner. It beeped, the light turning green, the portal opening. She frowned again. "Now that's strange... It seems to be working just fine."

She took another look at the lock. Perhaps he messed with something inside the lock. She would have to disassemble the lock if she wanted to fix it, and now was most certainly not the time for that.

So with one final glance, she left the lab and returned to her room.

-the next day-

Danny, having woken up early due to incessant worry (thankfully no nightmares this time), warily went down the stairs to eat breakfast. Surely his mom had realized the lock wasn't damaged in the slightest, right? She had seen him open the portal. In _ghost_ form. How would he explain that when ghosts weren't supposed to have human DNA, much less _Fenton_ DNA?

As he reached the bottom of the stairs and entered the kitchen, Maddie looked up and smiled at him."Oh, hi sweetie. Did you sleep well yesterday?"

He forced a relaxed smile, avoiding eye contact by going to the fridge and grabbing the milk. "Yeah. Just like any other night."

She let out an almost silent breath, clearly relieved by the answer. "That's good. Jack and I are going to fix the genetic lock."

Danny feigned a look of surprise as he set the milk down on the table, making sure to pause and look up. "Did something happen to it?"

"We think Phantom sabotaged the lock so that anyone can open the ghost portal. Since I don't know what that ghost did to it, we'll have to take the whole lock apart and rebuild it. It'll take a few days, so going out will be a bit more dangerous than usual."

He barely remembered to hide his relief at her explanation. "Okay. Good luck with that. I'm going to the movies with Sam and Tucker a little later today." He sat at the table, having grabbed the cereal, bowl, and spoon during his mom's response.

"Just be careful, okay?"

Danny suppressed a sigh. "Yeah, yeah. We'll be fine, Mom."

"I should go help your father. If you need anything, we'll be in the lab." She left, hurrying down the stairs with a plate of toasts almost certainly meant for Jack.

Now alone, he sighed in relief. He allowed himself to relax, enjoying breakfast while listening to the faint clanking of the genetic lock's parts falling on the lab floor and the voices of his parents as they worked.

Maybe this would be the way he felt around his parents if he'd never become half ghost. It was a nice feeling. And now that he thought about it, he couldn't help but feel a little sad for himself.

It hurt to hide things from them. To lie to them all the time. Especially when he used to trust them with everything. But no matter how much he wanted to trust them, there was always a part of him that couldn't. Not with this.

But now he had a place to belong, with friends that understood and accepted him. As he finished his bowl of cereal, he relished the warmth he felt in his chest, his core seeming to hum in contentedness.

Looking back at the stairway to the lab, his smile fell slightly. Things weren't perfect. Maybe they never would be.

But even so... he was okay with it. For being a halfa in a ghost hunting family, what he had now was more than enough. So long as nothing changed, everything would be okay.

And since his secret was safe, there was _nothing_ to worry about.

Reassured, Danny smiled to himself as he made his way to the theater.

A chill from his core made him gasp, his breath visible in front of his face.

Ghost.

Unperturbed, he quickly went into the nearest alley before transforming.

He'd just be a little late to the movie.

* * *

As Sam arrived outside the theater, she quickly noticed the absence of a certain halfa. "No Danny?"

Tucker almost shrugged as the goth joined him. "Nope. He's probably off fighting a ghost. I'm sure he'll come as soon as he's finished."

Having come to the same conclusion herself, she nodded. "Well, let's save him a seat. Can you text him our seat numbers?"

"Sure thing, Sam. Now let's hurry. I wanna get some popcorn before the movie starts."

Sighing lightly, she almost smiled. "Alright, but if Danny isn't here within the first twenty minutes of the movie we're looking for him, okay?"

"Yeah, but I don't think he'll have any trouble. Danny's gotten really good at this."

"Yeah, Tucker, I know, but I'm saying it just in case. Now are you going to buy any popcorn or not? The movie starts in two minutes."

"Yeah, just give me a sec." The techno geek quickly bought the popcorn (and a large soda) before hurrying to join Sam, who had already left to their seats.

As the minutes passed, the two teens began to feel growing concern for the half ghost who had still not shown up or even responded to Tucker's text. When twenty minutes passed, they both got up from their seats, almost sprinting out of the theater.

Now outside the front of the building, Tucker searched the web for any recent Phantom sightings while Sam called Danny's phone, searching the surrounding city for any sign of destruction as the phone rang.

Sam frowned, turning to Tucker. "No answer. Did you find anything?"

The techno geek remained silent, focused on finding a relevant page. "Aha! He was at the mall a few minutes ago. Someone posted a video of him fighting an ectopus."

Sam breathed out in relief. Danny was fine. But still... "That's it?"

"He's at the Nasty Burger now. Someone just commented that."

"Let's go! Maybe we can catch him."

"Right!"

They ran, hoping to assist Danny with the ghost. It was strange. Danny seemed to be in no trouble, especially if he was seen fighting an ectopus of all things, but no ghost ever took that long for Danny to capture, so what was going on? What was keeping Danny from coming to the theater? They needed to know.

As the Nasty Burger came in sight, they quickly spotted Danny, who had just caught the ghost in the thermos' beam.

"Danny!"

He turned, a peeved scowl on his face. As he spotted them, the glare softened. "Oh, it's you guys." He lowered himself to the ground as they approached, taking a moment to catch their breaths.

"Dude, what happened? Don't tell me you really needed twenty minutes to catch an ectopus."

Danny sighed. "My ghost sense has been going off like crazy. I barely even have time to catch one before another one shows up." As if to prove his point, another chill runs through him, and he gasps. "Like that."

"We'll help." Sam immediately offered.

Danny shook his head. "I'll be fine. None of these ghosts are powerful enough to give me trouble. Besides, I'm sure this won't last too much longer." He began to float, readying himself to fly toward the new ghost.

Sensing there wouldn't be time for an argument, she reluctantly relented. "You better let us know as soon as you're done, okay?"

Danny only nodded before flying off, leaving his two friends behind.

As he flew, he mentally apologized to Sam and Tucker. He had a feeling he wouldn't be catching a break anytime soon.

* * *

Sam was pissed. It was almost 9:00pm, and Danny still hadn't called. He had lied to her, didn't he? When he finally called she was going to—

Her phone began to ring, the goth immediately snatching it and accepting the call. "Danny, I swear to god—"

"Sam, it's me, Jazz."

She paused, her shoulders sagging. "Oh. Let me guess: Danny hasn't come home yet?"

"No, he hasn't, but that's not why I called. I told my parents that Danny's staying the night at your place. I don't think they'll call, but if they do, that's the story."

"Okay. Did you tell Tucker?"

"I'm calling him next." For a moment it was silent. "I'm worried he won't be back for a while."

"I get the feeling he knew that. Do you have any idea why there've been so many ghosts?"

A light gasp of realization reached the goth's ear. "My parents are taking apart the genetic lock to the ghost portal. The ghosts must have realized there's nothing keeping the portal closed right now..." Her words were almost breathless in growing concern and understanding.

Needing to know, Sam asked, "How long will it take them to fix it?"

A hesitant pause. "A few days." Sam bit back a curse. "I'm gonna call Tucker now."

"Okay. Let us know if you see Danny."

"I will. Bye." The call ended, and for a moment Sam sat there, the same thought repeating itself inside her head.

There was no way she was going to just sit and do nothing.

-the next day-

Tucker bent over, panting from exhaustion. "Hey, Sam... can we take a break? I don't think I can take another step."

The goth frowned but nodded, too breathless to argue and too tired to disagree with the tempting thought. Thankful to be near a park bench, they both sat, Sam setting the bag she was carrying down in the space between them.

The sun had set not even an hour ago. For several minutes they sat in silence, occasionally looking up at the night sky before looking back down again.

"Sam..." The techno geek hesitated, unsure how to continue. "I don't think we're going to be able to find him."

Sam's grip on the bag tightened at the mention of the young halfa.

"We've been trying to find him all day, Sam," he sympathetically reasoned.

"He's been fighting ghosts all day, Tucker. He must be exhausted at this point. Danny needs us now more than ever!"

He grimaced, wanting to agree (he felt the same) but knowing he couldn't. "I wanna help him too, but it's getting late. We'll need to cover for him again tonight in case Danny's parents ask."

Seeing reason in Tucker's words, she bit back an angry retort, her shoulders slumping as she silently conceded that Tucker was right.

Seeing that the goth agreed, albeit reluctantly, Tucker stood. "Once this is all over, we'll make sure he eats and gets enough sleep before going ghost again."

She managed a smile, but before she could stand and join Tucker in walking home, an unusual breeze swept by, sending a chill through the two teens. They both glanced at each other, far too experienced to mistake it for an ordinary breeze.

"Ghost."

Neither of them said anything as they processed what that meant. The realization dawned on both of them simultaneously, and in seconds they were running in the direction the ghost had gone, Sam clutching the bag to her chest as if it were a lifeline.

Sure enough Danny showed up, quickly capturing the ghost in the Fenton thermos before it could realize he was there.

For a moment they couldn't speak, amazed to see Danny floating there in front of him, but as the halfa's stomach growled, his glow flickering as his feet began to graze the ground, they sobered, both of them running to the clearly exhausted halfa.

It took the ghost teen a moment to react, almost blasting the two before managing to stop himself, the ecto-energy gathering in his palms dissipating almost immediately. "Sam? Tucker?"

Now closer, they could see Danny was pale, sweat beading on his forehead. His voice was raspy with exhaustion, and his eyes lacked their usual spark of liveliness, the normally bright toxic green having dulled.

They wordlessly placed their hands on his shoulders, pulling him down onto the ground before guiding him to the nearest bench, sitting him down on it. Danny remained silent, his eyes drooping shut before sluggishly opening again as Sam dug through the bag. Pulling out a protein bar, she tore off the wrapper before shoving it into the halfa's hands.

"Eat."

Danny complied, too tired to say anything despite how incredibly thankful he was. He quickly took a few bites, absently accepting the water bottle handed to him as he chewed. He had downed half the bottle when an all too familiar chill forced him to stop.

Danny sighed, Sam and Tucker reluctantly taking the half eaten protein bar and half empty water bottle from his gloved hands. "Sorry... Gotta go."

_Thanks for finding me._

He stood, jumping to boost his flight before flying off.

Which took him to where he floated now: more sleep deprived and exhausted than he'd ever been before (and that was saying something), barely holding on to the thermos, and on the verge of dropping to the ground. And considering he was floating more than fifty feet in the air, collapsing now would be catastrophic.

Not wanting to take any chances, he lowered himself until he was barely floating above the roof of the nearest building, resisting the urge to land on the ground not even a foot beneath the tips of his boots. Not yet... He couldn't rest, his tired core pulsing a shot of energy every time his eyelids began to droop, his feet drifting dangerously close to the ground before he pulls himself out of unconsciousness and forcefully floats up.

Five minutes passed. No ghost sense.

He held his breath, not daring to get too hopeful.

Ten minutes.

The pulses of power keeping him awake began to weaken, his feet dangling closer and closer to the ground with each one that passed.

Twenty minutes.

No ghost sense.

He sighed in relief. It was finally over.

His eyes drooped, his feet brushing the roof of the building. Sleep. So tired... Maybe he could just sleep here...

NOT SAFE.

His eyes shot open, looking around in silence. The closest place he could go to from here was...

He flew towards the forest as fast as he could, the small jolt of energy quickly fading away as the cabin came into sight. His eyes fell shut as he reached the door, using the last of his energy to phase through it, collapsing forward afterwards.

He was unconscious before he hit the ground.

* * *

Zoro sat in the corner of the living room, eyes shut in meditation. With the exception of their first encounter with Danny, nothing ever happened at night, so it surprised Zoro when he heard something approaching the front door. Eyes snapping open, he stood, a hand resting on the hilt of his sword, ready to unsheathe it at a moment's notice.

As a familiar young halfa phased through the door, Zoro relaxed, the earlier tension being replaced with confusion. But before he could say anything, the ghost teen collapsed. "Danny?!"

A bright white ring sparked to life, splitting to reveal a clearly exhausted Danny Fenton.

Alarmed, Zoro hurried to the unconscious teen's side. He wasn't looking good. Turning the halfa over onto his back, he frowned in growing unease. He looked sick. Although he didn't feel too feverish, his skin was pale white.

A loud growl from the halfa's stomach broke the silence.

Shit.

More concerned than he cared to admit, Zoro hurried into the guys' room, going straight to the reindeer's bed before gently shaking his shoulder. "Hey. Chopper." He turned to Sanji's bed, which was next to the doctor's, and prodded the blond's shoulder. "Cook. Wake up."

Chopper stirred before sleepily sitting up, rubbing his eyes as he asked, "Is something wrong?"

As the swordsman opened his mouth to explain, the cook shifted, groaning in irritation as he mumbled, "What the hell do you want, shitty marimo? Unlike you, I actually _do_ shit during the day."

Ignoring the insult, Zoro answered, "Danny's here. I think he might be sick or something."

Chopper's eyes went wide, all sleepiness instantly vanishing. "Danny's sick?!"

Zoro winced, hurriedly trying to shush the reindeer, but the damage had been done. Within seconds, the other guys began to shift in their beds, slowly but surely waking up. He mentally sighed. So much for letting the others sleep. "I'm not sure. He doesn't look good."

The reindeer quickly sprung out of bed, hastily tossing the sheets aside as he left to the infirmary to retrieve his tools. Zoro turned back to the chef, who was now sitting up, a dreadfully anxious expression on the cook's face. Sanji had figured it out and was now waiting for a confirmation that he knew in his heart wasn't needed.

Even so, Zoro gave it. "He's hungry."

It was all the cook needed to throw the bedsheets off and almost sprint out of the room. Zoro waited a moment before following, going to the living room to find Chopper crouched by Danny, who was still unconscious (not that it surprised him), a thermometer in the doctor's hoof. An IV was already hooked up next to the collapsed teen. Sanji stood to the side, unsettlingly still. A second later the halfa's stomach growled again, and, as if brought out of a spell, Sanji turned away, hurrying straight into the kitchen without a word.

"How is he?"

Zoro and Chopper turned to see Luffy standing at the entrance to the living room. Also wanting to know, the swordsman turned back to the doctor.

"He's got a slight fever, but with enough rest he should be fine. It's probably due to exhaustion. He's dehydrated and hasn't had enough to eat. He looks like he hasn't slept for days..." The reindeer trailed off, a somber expression on his face. Although he knew it to be true, the young doctor hesitantly asked, "Do you think it's because..." He paused, unwilling to say it.

None of them said anything, Luffy instead moving closer to the young reindeer, who was still crouched by Danny's side. "We should move him."

The reindeer blinked before nodding, shifting into heavy point and gently lifting the unconscious teen from the floor before depositing him onto the closest couch, placing one of the couch's pillows between his head and the armrest. Satisfied, Chopper shifted back into brain point.

The other guys, having heard Chopper's earlier explanation of Danny's condition, filed out into the living room as Chopper was moving the unconscious teen, eyes going wide as they took in the halfa's appearance.

"How's Danny?"

They turned to the stairs, Nami and Robin walking down the steps to join them.

Chopper waited for them to reach the bottom of the stairs before answering, "To put it simply, he's exhausted. I think it's because—"

"The news." Nami finished, frowning. "All those Phantom sightings... Of course he's exhausted."

The atmosphere in the room turned somber, the Straw Hats staring at the sleeping halfa on the couch in silence as they acknowledged Nami's words.

"He works so hard for them..." Brook murmured.

Luffy turned away, walking past the others into the guys' room.

"Luffy?"

He didn't answer, the Straw Hats silently watching the doorway for the rubberman to reappear. A few moments later, he did, emerging with a pillow and two blankets in his hands. Ignoring their stares, he glanced at Chopper, who after a second realized what Luffy was doing and nodded affirmatively at the unspoken question. Silent permission granted, he walked to the couch and laid one of the blankets on the sleeping halfa and, leaving space between himself and the couch, sat on the ground.

"We're all sleeping here with Danny tonight. Captain's orders."

They smiled. Remembering their newest friend, Usopp frowned in thought. "So what would Danny be in our crew?"

"I don't think we've even told him yet," Franky added.

"Well, he's a superhero?" Chopper more asked than suggested.

"Superheroes don't join pirate crews."

"Well, we're not actually pirates, so it doesn't matter."

Luffy pouted at Nami's words. "Pirates have adventures and travel the world together. We have adventures and travel the world, so that makes us pirates, and now Danny's part of our crew. So we _are_ pirates."

Nami suppressed a fond sigh, smiling instead. "Traveling the world, huh? Sounds nice when you put it that way..." A thought crosses her mind, and she sobers. "Are we still going to be able to do that now that..." She trailed off, unable to complete the thought, instead shifting her gaze from the other Straw Hats to the sleeping halfa. The others followed suit, slowly realizing what she was getting at as they mulled over her words.

"He's protecting this town..." And that had to mean—

"He can't leave."

Suddenly the implications were becoming clear to the Straw Hats, the simple fact shoving an unpleasant problem into the forefront of their minds. If they were ever di—

"Then we'll stay."

Nami frowned. "It's not that simple, Luffy. If we're seen—"

"Then we won't be seen."

Nami paused at Luffy's interruption, her firm stance weakening as her worry grew. "The longer we stay here..."

"We're not leaving."

She wanted to yell at him, but the finality of Luffy's voice had her biting her lip instead. As much as she wanted things to stay the way they were now, it would only be a matter of time before someone found them. Someone _always_ found them. If that were to happen now... She shook her head, but the thought lingered. Was it really a good idea to be getting so attached to Amity? To the cabin?

To Danny?

Taking another look at the halfa, she realized that she wouldn't have done anything different.

She just hoped they weren't making a mistake.

A light tap on her shoulder pulled her from her thoughts. She turned, Robin handing her a blanket and pillow. She blinked in surprise, suddenly realizing the others had left while she had been preoccupied with her thoughts. The guys were now returning to the living room, pillows and blankets in their hands.

Smiling gratefully at Robin, she accepted the blanket and pillow before hurrying to claim the smaller, unoccupied couch for herself. As the others found places to settle, Chopper left to grab an ice pack from the kitchen, Franky holding on to the reindeer's blanket and pillow. The fever would probably go away on its own, but the pack would likely help. The doctor returned to the living room, going over to Danny and gently placing the pack on the halfa's forehead before taking his blanket and pillow back from Franky, choosing to settle right next to Danny, the spot having been left for him by the others.

Brook began to play a soothing lullaby on the violin he'd brought, and before long, the others began to fall asleep, comforted by the soft and peaceful atmosphere the music brought.

Once everyone minus Chopper and Zoro, who had merely closed his eyes, was asleep, Brook stopped playing, going to sleep himself. Brook had only been asleep for twenty minutes when the kitchen door opened, Sanji quietly entering the living room with a small bowl of soup in his hand.

The chef's visible eye almost immediately locked onto the sleeping halfa.

Chopper internally winced, sympathetic yet hesitant to answer the unspoken question in his visible eye. "I don't think Danny will be waking up anytime soon... The IV should help with the dehydration until he wakes up."

The blond turned to him, softly smiling. "I've got more for Danny when he wakes up. This bowl's for you."

"Oh. Thanks, Sanji." He took the bowl from the blond, but even as the reindeer began to eat, the cook stayed where he stood, his gaze drifting to Danny again.

"Hey, Chopper..." The reindeer paused, looking up at the chef, who after a moment tore his gaze away from the halfa to the young doctor. "Let me know when he wakes up, okay?"

Chopper smiled comfortingly. "Of course, Sanji."

Gratefully nodding, he turned away, retreating to the guys' room to grab a blanket and pillow. He returned seconds later, finding a spot before settling down. Within minutes, the blond was asleep.

Not even ten minutes passed before the reindeer began to feel his eyelids droop. Chopper stubbornly shook his head, but the sleepiness lingered.

"Chopper..." The reindeer turned around from his makeshift post, surprised to see Zoro awake. "Get some sleep. I'll watch him for you."

The doctor gave him a tired but thankful nod. "If he wakes up or his fever worsens, let me know."

The swordsman grunted softly in acknowledgement.

Assured that Danny would be okay, Chopper finally allowed himself to fall asleep.

* * *

When Danny woke up, it was to the sound of various voices, at first muffled and distant, but as he became more aware, they began to sound familiar. He managed to slowly open his eyes. A wooden ceiling stared back at him. It was daytime. And it looked to be way past morning too.

He quickly sat up, almost instantly regretting the sudden movement when a small wave of dizziness hit him. He blinked, unaware the room had gone silent. There was a blanket on him.

"Danny, how are you feeling?"

Huh. Forgot about the voices. The halfa turned, eyes going wide as he realized every single Straw Hat was there in the living room. They looked like they'd been there all day. There were blankets and pillows everywhere, covering most of the floor.

They'd been there the entire night. "You guys really slept here for me?"

They smiled. "Of course!"

He shakily smiled, fighting back the surge of emotion he felt at their simple sincerity. "Thank you." He could feel something on his arm... There was an IV attached. "For taking care of me. It means a lot to me."

His stomach growled, and he blushed in embarrassment.

"I've got something, so just sit tight for a moment." The blood stood, briskly heading into the kitchen before Danny could think to respond.

"Danny, when was the last time you ate?"

Danny looked down at the reindeer sitting in front of him, the serious expression on the doctor's face and tone of the question filling the teen with unease in a way that the expected worry wouldn't have. "I had about half of a protein bar yesterday around nine thirty. I also drank about half of a bottle of water. Didn't have time for anything else though. If Sam and Tucker hadn't found me, I wouldn't have been able to eat anything. Too many ghosts."

The Straw Hats frowned at that, but before any of them could say anything, the kitchen door opened, and everyone turned to see Sanji enter the living room, the blond balancing a tray with a bowl of soup and a plate holding a toasted loaf of bread on his hand as he carefully made his way to Danny.

"Here."

Danny accepted the tray, his stomach growling again now that food was in front of him. He looked up at the chef, who, after a second of confusion, said, "You don't have to ask for permission, you know. It's for you, so go ahead and eat it before it gets cold."

Danny didn't need to be told twice. He ate, the other Straw Hats busying themselves with putting their blankets and pillows away in the meantime.

Chopper returned with his medicinal bag, waiting until the halfa had set aside the tray before asking, "Can I check your vitals now that you're awake?"

"Yeah." The other Straw Hats returned as Chopper measured his vitals, opting to return to their earlier spots in the room as they waited for Chopper to finish.

Satisfied with the measurements, the reindeer removed the IV. "You seem to be doing a lot better now. The fever's gone and your vitals are stable. Your powers use up energy, right?"

"Yeah. It's like sprinting or lifting weights."

"So using your powers would be the same as a workout?"

"Kind of. It doesn't tire me as easily as it did before."

"Sounds like me and my powers!" Luffy shouted, a smile spread across his face.

"You've been using them nonstop for almost two whole days..." Chopper frowned. "You should've passed out sooner."

"I think my ob—" Danny abruptly cut off, falling silent as he averted his gaze.

"What's wrong?" Chopper asked, the others watching from where they sat.

Lowering his voice, he answered, "It's personal. Can I tell you later?"

Realizing what the halfa meant, Chopper nodded. He filed the question he had away for their next session.

Sanji, who was close enough to hear the exchange, asked, "Want more soup? I know you're probably still hungry."

Danny smiled gratefully at the blond. "I'd love that. Thanks, Sanji." He grabbed the tray and handed it to the chef, who wore a strange, almost melancholic smile as he took it from the halfa and retreated to the kitchen.

The Straw Hats watched the closed door with sympathy, too lost in their own thoughts to say anything.

Confused and worried he had missed something, Danny hesitantly asked, "Is something wrong?"

Some of them stared at each other, unsure whether to say or not.

Finally, Nami answered, "Nothing's wrong... You just reminded him of something personal is all."

"Something personal?" Suddenly worried he'd done something wrong, he asked, "Was it something I said? I didn't mean to—"

"No, it had nothing to do with what you said, so don't worry."

The teen glanced at Usopp in uncertainty before reluctantly accepting the sniper's words. "Oh... Okay..." So he hadn't said anything wrong. But it had _something_ to do with him being here. What else could it... Oh. Sanji was a cook, and he hardly ate anything in the past two days. "It was because I was hungry. Right?"

Silence.

The door to the kitchen opened, Sanji carrying another serving of food. They all stared at him, and he tried not to scowl at the attention.

"I'm fine." At their surprised faces, he almost smirked. "I could hear you through the wall, you know. You guys aren't very good at being quiet." Rather than wait for a response, he made his way to Danny. "Here."

As Danny took the tray, his eyes found Sanji's visible one, the young halfa instantly recognizing the spark that was shining in it. After all, it was the same spark Danny often saw in his own reflection.

Sanji was determined.

And it wasn't hard to guess what that determination was for.


	9. What They Couldn't Do

**Hey guys! I decided to try a different writing style (well, different than how I've been writing this story that is). Definitely let me know if you like this or not. Other than that, I apologize that this took so long to finish. I hope this chapter's worth the wait.**

**I don't own One Piece or Danny Phantom.**

Breakfast had been like any other. Rubbery hands snatching different pieces of meat indiscriminately from various plates, swift kicks occasionally delivered to defend the two women's plates from the previously mentioned rubbery hands, and a nonstop jumble of shouts as the food was quickly devoured by the hungry crew.

As per usual, Sanji stayed in the kitchen after breakfast, washing the many dishes that had miraculously survived yet another Straw Hat meal, and, on most days, a soft hum would transform the muffled sound of running water into a melody.

It was a normal day.

For the third time that morning, Chopper peeked his head out from behind the infirmary door before slowly wandering into the living room, the reindeer clutching the same notepad that he'd had in his hoof the last two times. His eyes searched the room before settling on the kitchen door.

"If you're looking for the cook, he's in the kitchen."

"Still?"

No immediate response from the swordsman. Chopper frowned.

"If you really want to talk to him that badly then just go in."

The kitchen door opened, Chopper turning to see Sanji standing in the doorway, one hand still on the doorknob. The blond's visible eye quickly found Chopper before noticing the notepad in the reindeer's hoof. "Did you need something?"

The young doctor shifted at the stare, struggling to find a suitable position for the notepad-bearing hoof. "I was hoping to share some notes I have on Danny."

"Of course, Chopper." He stepped aside, opening the doorway into the kitchen. Taking the cue for what it was, the reindeer entered, Sanji shutting the door behind the young doctor as soon as he was inside.

For several moments the swordsman watched the closed kitchen door. They were talking, but all he could make out were conversational hums, their words muffled by the wall separating the kitchen and living room.

Not that it mattered. He shut his eye again.

The front door flew open. "Zoro, where's Sanji? I'm hungry!"

"He's busy."

Luffy frowned. "But I'm hungry!"

"What's with all the ruckus down there? I can't concentrate with all this noise."

Ignoring the irritated remark, Luffy looked up at the top of the stairs. "Oh, Nami! Zoro says Sanji's busy. But I'm hungry."

"Busy? Hm... Now that I think about it, he hasn't brought us any snacks yet." Curious, she lifted her arm so that she could get a good look at the watch on her wrist. Her eyes widened. "It's already eleven?!"

She hurried down the stairs, brushing past Luffy without so much as a glance, her eyes focused on the closed kitchen door. Was something wrong? Something had to be going on. She walked the rest of the way to the kitchen door, feeling but not bothering to acknowledge Zoro's following gaze.

She knocked. "Sanji?"

Some muffled shuffling. "Nami? Is there something you—Oh! I forgot to bring you your snack! Just give me a few minutes, and I'll make you and Robin something..." More frantic shuffling now. "I didn't realize so much time had passed..."

"Is there a way I can help, Sanji?"

Nami's eyes went wide. Why was Chopper in there? What could the two of them possibly need to... Unless...

"Can you grab three tangerines from the pantry for me?"

"Okay!" A light pattering of feet retreating from the door. The sound of the stove being hastily cleared, various drawers and cabinets opening and closing.

"Sanji, wait!" The sounds stopped, the kitchen falling silent. She thought for a moment before saying, "I just wanted to tell you Robin and I don't need a snack today, so don't worry about making us one."

A long pause of silence. Finally, "Are you sure? It's no trouble, really!"

She heaved a sigh. "Yes, I'm sure." Calming, she smiled. "Besides, you sound busy." She turned away from the door, walking toward the stairs. Luffy was still standing at the front door.

"I promise the next snack will be extra special, Nami!"

She paused. "Save it for the next time Danny's here." Without waiting for a response, she continued to the stairs. As she began to climb them, the muffled murmuring resumed within the kitchen walls. Her smile grew as she went up the remaining stairs.

"Nami, I wanted a snack," Luffy whined. She paused, one foot on the top step, and turned to face him. She was frowning, her eyes holding a spark that had Luffy raising his eyebrows.

"Sanji's busy."

"Zoro said the same thing." He frowned. "I'm hungry."

"Then find something else to do until Sanji's done. I'm going back to my room to finish my drawing. I'm expecting you to be quiet so that I can concentrate." She turned away, climbing the last step before vanishing into the girls' room, the door shutting with a firm thud.

Luffy stared at the top of the stairs where Nami had been, eyes drifting toward the closed door of the girls' room in silence. Finally, he turned away, heading into the living room. Quickly spotting Zoro in the same spot he'd been in since breakfast, Luffy walked straight to him, crouching before poking the swordsman. "Let's play a game."

"Play it with Usopp."

"But I already did." He frowned. "He keeps cheating."

"Too bad. I'm not playing."

"But Zoro… I'm bored."

"I said no, okay?" he hissed.

For a moment he stared, but not even a second later, he stood up, no longer looking at the swordsman. "Okay." He turned away, calmly heading out the front door, closing the door softly behind him.

To his right stood a tree. Spotting the familiar long, thick branch extending along the side of the cabin, he stretched his arms, hands firmly grabbing the usual spot of the branch. Letting himself be pulled toward the branch, he swung forward, the momentum allowing his body to swing above the branch. Still gripping the branch, Luffy pulled his sandaled feet downwards, landing solidly on the branch in a crouched position. Content, he released his grip and stood up, turning around to face the cabin.

His gaze immediately fell on the window directly in view from the branch. There was a blanket covering it, the top of the blanket dipping slightly in the middle. Not much more could be seen than the light in the room and a passing figure. He shifted his gaze upward to the roof's surface just below his perch. He jumped, landing lightly onto the roof. He sat, laying his back against the incline, hands behind his head as he gazed at the sky through the gaps in the canopy, the cabin providing the biggest of them. An occasional chirp of a bird overhead, sometimes paired with the rustling of the trees in the rare gentle breezes. If he closed his eyes, he could imagine being on the figurehead of a ship in the middle of the sea instead. It was close, at least.

The sound of a window opening had him sitting up. For several moments he remained still. His nose twitched. Grinning, he launched himself to his feet. His feet pounded on the roof as he ran to the edge before jumping off, quickly reaching the door upon landing on the ground.

He unashamedly slammed it open. "Food!"

Zoro, who was still in the same corner, opened his eye at the disturbance, his gaze already on Luffy.

_You know._

Luffy returned the stare. The swordsman's eye closed again.

Smiling, Luffy walked to the kitchen door, pausing for a split second before opening it.

Chopper sat on a stool at the counter, too concentrated on the notepad and paper he had in front of him to acknowledge Luffy's presence.

Sanji stood near the stove, looking up almost as if he had been waiting. "Luffy."

_You came._

Right next to the cook was a plate of unfamiliar food.

Following his stare, Sanji turned back to the stove. "Those are some extras. I figured you were hungry."

The food was instantly snatched from the plate, Luffy immediately shoving it all into his mouth. "More!"

Chopper jumped with a startled shout, the paper sliding off the counter and onto the floor. Chopper was quick to jump down from the stool and hurriedly pick up the sheet, but not before Luffy's curious eyes could make out the word _vitamin_. "What's that?"

"N-Nothing!"

Luffy stared for a moment. He smiled. "That's for Danny, isn't it?"

"So what if it is?!" Chopper's eyes went wide. "Danny asked me to keep this information confidential, so you can't look!"

Luffy laughed, ignoring the doctor's indignant protest.

"Luffy..."

He stopped, smile still on his face as he turned to the reindeer. "Danny's in good hands. I'm not worried."

"Sh-Shut up, bastard! Your words don't make me happy or anything!"

Sanji gave a short sigh from his spot by the stove. "If you're gonna stay, sit at the table."

Grinning in satisfaction, Luffy went over to the table before plopping himself down onto his usual seat at the table.

The soft sound of boiling water filled the room, Luffy watching silently as Sanji diced an onion before turning his attention back to the stove. The blond chef would occasionally add something, a spice of some sort or another ingredient, to the pot. Sanji would usually stir the contents in the pot afterwards before taste testing it. "Needs more..."

The chef never stood still for more than a few seconds, grabbing ingredient after ingredient from the fridge or pantry, all interspersed with the preparation of those ingredients and the regular check on the stove. The counter space was filled to the brim in almost no time.

Chopper, on the other hand, remained seated on the stool, the notepad never moving from its place in front of him. Next to it was the sheet of paper he'd dropped earlier. He seemed to be comparing the two, or at least that's what it looked like to Luffy. The reindeer seemed to nod to himself before sitting up.

Sanji must've sensed the movement out of the corner of his eyes, for he turned away from the stove he had been about to check on, instead grabbing a sheet off a small stack near the fridge before moving to the counter where Chopper sat.

The chef handed the young doctor the new paper, Chopper accepting the sheet before placing it down next to the notepad. As the reindeer handed Sanji the sheet, he said, "Could you add more vitamin C to this one?"

Sanji took the paper, staring at it for a moment. "Yeah..." He absentmindedly took it to the stack, placing it on the smaller stack next to the one he'd taken a sheet from earlier. He seemed to still be in thought as he made his way back to the stove, Chopper already examining the new sheet. "Yeah. That'll work." The blond turned around, grabbing some green thing (he never did care for vegetables, or anything non-meat for that matter) from the fridge before returning to the stove.

The smell of more food came next, after what felt like an eternity of Sanji moving around the kitchen. Grabbing an empty plate from the cabinet, the blond transferred the new food onto the plate before carrying the whole plate towards Chopper. "I added kale to it."

Chopper nodded as he took one from the plate, Sanji setting the plate down on the counter before taking one himself. The cook took a bite, smiling as he swallowed. "Perfect." The reindeer nodded in agreement, still chewing. As Chopper finished chewing, Sanji moved to the two stacks of papers, grabbing the top one off the smaller stack before returning to the counter. Making some notes, the cook passed it to the doctor. "That look good?"

Chopper took a look at the paper before glancing once more at the notepad. "Yeah."

Sanji smiled, turning away to return the sheet to its spot on the smaller stack. "Luffy, you can have the rest. Careful, it's ho—"

The rubbery hands had already grabbed the new food from the plate, Luffy having moved the moment Sanji had given him permission. Shoving the plate's worth of food into his mouth, Luffy's tongue immediately began to burn. "Hot!"

Sanji sighed. "That's what I was saying, dumbass." He quickly grabbed a glass from the cabinet, filling it with water before delivering it to Luffy's spot at the table.

Luffy's hand snatched the cup as soon as the blond had placed it, downing the entire glass in seconds. Relieved, Luffy laughed. "Thanks, Sanji!"

Sanji gave an amused yet fond smile. "Honestly..."

Unbeknownst to the doctor and cook, the other Straw Hats were outside in the living room, knowing and relieved smiles on their faces as they listened to the muffled activity in the kitchen.

"I'll go get us something to eat from town. Robin, wanna come with me?"

She smiled. "Sure thing."

"Might wanna get dinner while you're at it."

Nami turned toward the kitchen door again. "Yeah... Good idea."

For several days they waited. Sanji would step out more than usual, always facing the same direction as he smoked his cigarette. Chopper spent more time in the infirmary, often glancing out the window in hopes of seeing a certain halfa. Luffy played outside more often, though the more notable change was that he refrained from complaining if a meal was late, as was increasingly common. These changes were not lost on the others, but they remained silent on the matter, instead keeping an eye out for the young teen's next visit.

Sanji was about to serve lunch when they heard a knock on the front door, everyone falling silent, eyes now intently watching the closed door.

A second later Danny Phantom phased in through the door.

"Danny!"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Hey guys. Sorry about last time." His stomach growled, and he blushed. "I'm fine! Just haven't had lunch yet. Not gonna pass out on you guys this time, I promise."

Sanji grinned, visible eye sparkling. "You're just in time for lunch."

Danny's eyes went wide. "I am? It's almost two in the afternoon!"

"So?"

"Uh... nothing."

"Food!" Luffy threw himself at the kitchen door, yanking it open before barreling inside, the other Straw Hats scurrying after him.

Danny grinned, intangibly flying through the wall towards his own seat near the window. Transforming into Fenton as he sat, he watched the others hurry to their own seats, Sanji trailing after them with a sigh. The blond closed the door before finally acknowledging the stares the entire table was giving him.

"Sanji, you said the food was ready!"

"Yeah, ready, not served." He walked to the cabinet, grabbing several large plates before moving to the stove. He quickly filled the plates with food, setting them aside as he grabbed a large stack of smaller plates from the cabinet.

Hands sprouted on the counter as the cook turned to deliver the plates. He looked from the hands to Robin. "I can take them."

Sanji hesitated but consented, setting the stack down and allowing Robin to use her powers to pass the plates to the Straw Hats at the table while he grabbed silverware for them, letting Robin do the same with each set of utensils.

By the time she was done, the blond had the large plates of food masterfully balanced on his hands and arms and was moving to serve the waiting Straw Hats.

As the blond began setting the plates of food down, the Straw Hats watched, eyeing the food they planned to grab the moment the chef was finished. The moment the last plate was set and Sanji's hand had retreated from the table, hands and forks flew at the plates, no one seeing the blond return to the oven where apparently more food waited to be served.

Danny turned his food intangible as a rubbery hand swiped at his plate, letting it return to tangibility the moment the hand directed itself to a different Straw Hat's plate. Looking up from his plate to decide on his next dish to eat, the young halfa realized that one of the plates of food was nearly untouched, the warzone of hands and forks seeming to stop at that plate.

And there's a rubbery hand now breaking that invisible barrier, grabbing the plate itself instead of the food on it. A swift kick swatted the hand away almost immediately, Danny looking up in time to see the cook shout, "Not the whole plate, moron! Only take one or two."

Luffy surprisingly complied, mumbling a barely coherent, "Okay," before snatching two of the empanada-like items from the plate.

There were still more than ten left on the plate.

Curious, Danny grabbed one. The moment he did, heads turned toward him, the blond's gaze subtly drifting toward the young halfa. They seemed to hold their breaths as they watched him take a bite.

He raised an eyebrow at them. "Something special about this that I don't know about?"

"It's a new recipe. Chopper and I worked together on it." The cook's hand twitched as he answered, fingers brushing the cuff of his sleeve before relaxing again.

"What do you think?"

"Do you like it?"

Danny smiled. "It tastes amazing. I'm surprised there's still so many left." He frowned as he took another look at the plate. "How come none of you guys are eating it?"

"It's a recipe we made with you in mind, Danny."

Danny looked up at the chef, nodding slowly at the confession. It made sense. But as he looked back at the food in his hand and the Straw Hats at the table (who were still watching him), he began to realize what Sanji's words really meant.

"You made this for _me_?"

"That's what I said."

Unbelievable. Did he seriously mean to say that he and Chopper had taken the time to come up with a _brand new_ recipe just for _him_? With Chopper involved, this thing in his hand surely had all kinds of nutrients that would be especially good for him and his ghost-fighting career. Speaking of his ghost half... Now that he was really thinking about it, he could probably eat this thing on the fly.

"You _made_ this for me."

Luffy grinned widely. "That's not the only one. Sanji made lots of new recipes!"

"Cook was so worried he spent an entire day in the kitchen."

"I wasn't worried, shitty marimo!"

"Hold on." They fell silent. "You made _multiple_ new recipes for me?"

"Eleven to be exact."

Eleven. Eleven new recipes. Sanji and Chopper spent an entire day making _eleven_ new recipes specifically for him. Damn. That was... _Wow_.

"Danny?"

Wow, his throat felt tight. "I just... No one's ever done this for me before. It's kind of overwhelming."

"Was it too much?" The blond didn't look so assured anymore, his hands tugging slightly at the cuffs of his sleeves again.

"No! I just wasn't expecting this is all." He glanced at all of them again, the shock finally fading. He smiled. "I guess it really shouldn't have surprised me though... If Sam and Tucker could, they would've done this for me a long time ago."

Directing his attention to Sanji and Chopper, his smile grew. "Thank you."

They both grinned, the cook replying, "Glad you like it."

* * *

The bell rang as the glass door opened, a young woman slowly entering the shop. "Excuse me?"

An aging man stepped out from a doorway at the back of the tiny place. "Yes?"

"I'm looking for a job. Would you hire me?"

The man scrutinized her appearance. "Are you old enough to be working?"

"I just turned sixteen today."

A smile. "Eager to work, aren't you?"

"I am. I just moved here and need money to pay rent."

"Really? I see." He gestured toward the empty tables. "This job won't be easy. Are you sure you want to work here?"

"I'm sure." The man seemed to consider her words, finger absently tapping the chair it rested on. "I can make confectionery." The man looked up at her. "I'm a chocolatier." At the skeptical look, she added, "I was taught by my big sister when I was little."

"And you moved here recently."

"That's right."

"Alright." He smiled at her. "Consider yourself hired..." He trailed.

"Pudding."

He accepted the name with only a moment of surprise. "Pudding."


	10. The Straw Hat

**Hey guys! Sorry this one took so long (seriously, this took way too long). I've actually created a playlist on YouTube for this story. Feel free to check it out if you're interested. The playlist is titled Ghostly Adventures, and the channel is Leafstorm9.**

**I don't own One Piece or Danny Phantom.**

The kitchen door opened, all eyes immediately on the tray of beverages their chef held.

Moving the tray in time to dodge a hastily stretched arm, Sanji moved quickly around the room, handing a refreshingly cold glass of juice to each of the lounging Straw Hats before taking the last one for himself. Taking a sip, he turned to Franky, who stood at the entrance to the hallway. "Is it done yet?"

The cyborg frowned as he took a sip of his own. "I've finished building it, but it'll take a few more hours to install it."

"Hours?!" Usopp groaned from his spot on the wooden floor, his glass already empty.

"I think I'll die of heat stroke before then..." Chopper mumbled, face pressed against the ice-filled glass in his hoof.

"We should have done this sooner..." Nami sighed, absently sipping the juice in the glass she held.

Sanji wiped the sweat off his forehead, his eyes catching something above them as he did so. He looked up. "Oh, hey Danny."

Following Sanji's gaze, the others' heads tilted, finding the halfa floating near the ceiling in ghost form.

When no one said anything, Danny remarked, "Geez, it's warm in here."

Sanji raised an eyebrow. "Warm? It feels like I'm being baked in an oven."

"What he said," Usopp muttered.

"Yeah," Luffy added. "What he said."

Wow. Uh... This was a first, and it was really weirding him out. "Doesn't this cabin have air conditioning?"

"We thought it did..."

Moving the glass away from her lips, Nami explained, "Turns out the AC units here are too old. I just saw them and assumed they worked..." She frowned. "We should've tested them."

"This cabin probably hasn't been occupied for a long time. It's only natural something would cease to function during that time."

Nami straightened at that, quickly turning to Robin. "So you _knew_ the AC was broken?"

"No. The cabin was in pretty good condition when we found it, so it was hard to estimate how long it had been abandoned or even if it was abandoned to begin with."

"Still doesn't change our situation." Usopp flicked the side of the glass in his hand, the ice clinking at the disruption.

Nami looked down at her glass, realizing it was empty. "Man, I was hoping it'd last longer."

For a moment no one said anything, the Straw Hats staring at their own empty glasses with longing eyes. Danny watched as Chopper tilted his glass, the lone ice cube sliding into the reindeer's mouth before the doctor stood the glass up again. Hold on...

"I can help." Chopper's eyes darted to meet his, startling the young halfa out of his thoughts. Taking a moment to look, he realized they were all staring at him. Well, may as well roll with it. "I have ice powers."

For a moment there was no reaction. Then, their eyes lit up in excitement. "Oh, that's right!"

"I wan' ice."

"Hey, make me some too!"

Suddenly the room was alive, Danny wondering whether to be relieved or worried as he nervously chuckled.

Still, it _was_ getting stuffy, and if that was how it felt in ghost form, then the halfa could only guess how miserable it felt for the others.

Drawing power from his core, Danny's eyes glowed blue as the cold energy radiated from his body. Danny looked around the room expectantly, only relaxing when the Straw Hats sighed in relief, visibly loosening at the cooler air.

"This feels nice..."

"Thanks, Danny..."

"I'm still bored." All heads turned to Luffy. "What? I'm just saying I'm bored."

Before anyone could begin to explain the meaning of gratitude, the halfa laughed, effectively cutting them off.

The Straw Hats stared in silent amazement, some of them fascinated by the ghostly echo that seemed to be coming from all sides of the room. The room really did feel ghostly, yet...

"Danny?"

Refocusing their attention on Danny, it surprised them to realize he was no longer laughing, the halfa instead floating completely still, his eyes shut in obvious concentration. They stared in confused silence for a moment before it dawned on them.

Danny was trying to do something.

They watched in silence, Luffy restlessly bouncing where he sat as they waited for something to happen.

Nothing.

Keeping his eyes shut, the halfa frowned and breathed out before trying again.

Once again the Straw Hats waited, not daring to move as they subconsciously held their breaths.

For several seconds, there was nothing. Nami hesitantly began to stand, fully intending to stop the young halfa from pushing himself for their sakes—as she suspected he was doing—only to stop, a light gasp escaping her lips as she saw it.

Lazily floating down from the ceiling were snowflakes.

Danny must've sensed their amazement, for his eyes shot open, the blue in his eyes fading back into toxic green in his shock. He looked around as if noticing the snowflakes for the first time, smiling widely as he shouted, "It worked! Yes!"

Shocked out of their silent gaping, the Straw Hats stared in disbelief at the young halfa as he stilled himself again, the earlier childish excitement fading as quickly as it had come.

It didn't take as long for the snowflakes to appear this time, Danny's eyes remaining blue as he opened them.

For a moment no one said anything, unsure how to address the awe they all felt not even a few minutes ago.

"It's snowing!" Luffy laughed, jumping to his feet before running around in the living room, leaping over or around any Straw Hats in his path.

Nami gaped at Luffy, who apparently was unfazed by the silence in the room, before smiling to herself.

Chopper stood up, jumping in an attempt to catch the snowflakes as he cheered, "Snow! Snow!"

"Super!"

"This is awesome, Danny!"

Smiling, Sanji quickly collected the empty glasses on the tray he still held, pausing as he picked up Luffy's discarded glass from the floor to look up at the floating halfa. He was smiling, calming watching with glowing blue eyes as the room was filled with the usual liveliness he had come to expect from the Straw Hats. Satisfied, Sanji stood, maneuvering the tray around the others as he made his way back to the kitchen to wash the cups.

Reaching a hand out, Nami watched one of the snowflakes land in the palm of her hand, her eyes widening as she bent her fingers toward her palm, almost as if to scratch an itch. She stared at her palm a moment longer before looking up at Danny. "How come they don't melt?" Danny turned to her, his eyes still glowing blue. After realizing he was waiting, she continued. "Even with the cooler air, the snow should melt before reaching the ground, and yet..." She glanced back down at her hand, only to find that the snowflake in her hand was gone. "It melted?!"

He chuckled, abruptly stopping when her head shot up to face him, lightly shaking his head before answering, "My ice is special. Well, ghost ice is special. It's not as quick to melt, and if I want, I can make ice that will never melt."

"Seriously? That's so cool!" Danny and Nami both turned to Luffy, who had at some point approached them, eyes shining. Actually, the whole room had quieted too.

"I wanna see! I wanna see!"

He stared for a moment before smiling. "Sure." He shut his eyes, trying to maintain his snowflake production while creating an ice figure in his hand. After what had to be several minutes, Danny opened his eyes, finally ready to make the ice figure. He concentrated the power into his hands, only to pause. What should he make? Looking up at the watching Straw Hats, he smiled. That would do. Taking one last look, he returned to his task, carefully crafting an ice figure of a miniature straw hat in his hand. He looked up, anticipating their reactions.

Luffy's eyes were sparkling. "It's my hat!"

Danny smiled at the warm feeling in his chest as he extended his hand to Luffy, the mini straw hat resting on the palm. "Here. Keep it. As long as you don't break it, it'll never melt."

Luffy stilled, staring at the straw hat being offered to him before looking up at Danny. He grinned, taking the ice straw hat and hugging it to his chest. "Thanks, Danny!"

"Can you make something for me, too?"

"Can you make an ice statue of me?"

"I would like something as well."

"Everyone calm down!" They all turned to Sanji, who stood near the kitchen door. "I get that we all want stuff to be made, but we can't force Danny to do it."

"Thanks, Sanji, but I'm okay with doing this."

"Really? In that case... Can you make ice replicas of Nami and Robin?!"

"You wanted him to make stuff too!"

"We're going to have to form a line..." Nami calmly walked to where Danny floated. She smiled. "And that line starts here."

The others scrambled for a place in line, Usopp shouting, "You wanted Danny to make stuff for you too?!" as he hurried into the line.

The line having been established, Danny began to work.

Nami had wanted a tangerine and a pinwheel.

Chopper had wanted an ice replica of his old pink hat.

Usopp had wanted an ice figure of himself wearing a cape. As he left though, Danny could just make out the sniper's soft murmuring, "Maybe Kaya will like this..." He smiled, deciding not to ask.

Turning to the next Straw Hat, he was faced with Sanji. "Could you make a replica of the shitty geezer's chef hat?"

The request caught him by surprise. "Uh, sure. What's it look like?"

The blond pulled out a picture from an inside pocket in his suit. He turned it toward Danny. "Like that."

It was a picture of an old man, the shitty geezer as Sanji called him, wearing a tall white chef hat. Next to him stood a rather irritated young boy. This was Sanji, Danny quickly realized. Focusing his attention onto the hat, he nodded, quickly creating an identical one with his ice powers. "This good?"

Sanji finished tucking the picture back into his pocket before looking at Danny's creation. "Yeah. Thanks, Danny."

As Sanji took the chef hat, Danny asked, "You don't want anything else?"

"Well, if you could make life-size replicas of Nami and Robin—"

"No way in hell!" Nami shouted from where she sat on the couch, her tangerine and pinwheel having been dropped off in the girls' room.

"As you wish, Nami my love!" Turning back to Danny, he calmed himself. "This is enough." He turned away, going inside the kitchen, ice chef hat in his hand.

He smiled, turning to the next Straw Hat in line.

Brook was next, asking for a figure of a whale he had played for. After that was Robin's request for a bookmark.

"A bookmark?"

She chortled. "That's right. Feel free to design it however you like."

Realizing she was serious, Danny replied, "Okay..." After taking a moment to consider how to design it, he created it. Holding it up for her to see, he asked, "Is this okay?"

She looked at it in silence for a moment. "Is that the Orion constellation?" Danny nodded. "Then that's your favorite?"

A small smile. "Yeah. It was one of the first ones I learned about. I also like that it's easier to spot. It's comforting."

She gently took the bookmark from him. "This is perfect. Thank you, Danny."

Smiling, he turned to face the next person in line.

"Hey there, Danny!"

The others all turned to Franky as if he had grown a second head. "Franky, weren't you supposed to be installing the AC unit?"

He seemed puzzled by their reaction. "Oh, that? I finished that an hour ago."

Everyone's eyes went wide. "What?! Seriously?"

"Yeah. The AC's been on for a whole hour now. Anyway..." he turned his attention back to Danny, who had been silent during the whole exchange. "Would you mind making a big cola bottle for me? It'll be useful for storing cola and possibly other stuff as well."

A whole hour. The AC had been on for a whole hour. Danny wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. He shut his eyes, taking a deep breath as he relaxed his core, the snow ceasing as he did.

"You alright, Danny?"

Right. There was still one more thing to make. Willing his ice powers to his hands, he opened blue eyes. "A large barrel, right?"

Franky pondered it for a second. "Actually, that's even better. If possible, two or three of them."

"I'll make three then." He was relieved to find that it was much easier to make the objects now that his energy and focus weren't split between two different tasks, and within seconds all three barrels were made.

"Wow! That was super quick! Super!" Franky struck his signature pose, Danny merely smiling as his eyes faded back into their normal toxic green.

Usopp frowned at the cyborg's words. "Yeah, that was way faster than any of ours was. How come you were able to make Franky's barrels faster than our stuff?"

"It was harder to do it while making snow." Realizing he was on the verge of collapsing, Danny floated to the nearest couch before flopping onto it. "Dang, that really took a lot out of me."

Now that he mentioned it, the Straw Hats couldn't help but notice how utterly exhausted the young halfa looked. His ghostly glow had dimmed considerably, and his eyes were now only half-open, as if he would fall asleep at any moment.

And it had been because of them. Chopper, upset that he had contributed to Danny's exhausted state, turned with shimmering eyes to where Danny lay slumped against the couch. "I'm sorry, Danny..."

"We all are. We should've considered how much power you were using." Nami frowned, looking down as she quietly finished, "We were being selfish."

Danny shook his head somewhat forcefully. "No... I wanted to. It was my choice..." His eyes began to droop shut. "Mind if I sleep here a bit...? Don't think I can make it home right now..."

"Sleep as long as you need to. It's the least we can do after all you've done for us."

He smiled. "Thanks..."

His eyes closed, a blinding white ring appearing at his waist as he did, splitting to reveal an already sleeping Danny Fenton.

The Straw Hats smiled at the sight, Nami leaving to grab a blanket for the sleeping halfa. While she was doing that, Brook retrieved his violin from the guys' room, only just beginning to play a soft tune when Nami returned, draping the blanket on Danny's form before finding a comfortable place to sit and enjoy the song. Zoro remained in his corner, quickly falling asleep now that the room wasn't as noisy. Chopper had moved the herbs he was mixing from the infirmary into the living room, occasionally checking to see if Danny was waking up before going back to work. Sanji returned to the kitchen to begin preparing dinner while Robin retrieved her newest book from the girls' room before sitting on the smaller couch to read it, the new bookmark Danny had made her carefully gripped in her hand as she read. The remaining Straw Hats, having nothing else to do, played cards, Nami joining them almost immediately.

The kitchen door opened. "Dinner's ready!"

Luffy jumped to his feet, his cards scattering as he dropped them. "Food!"

"You idiot! You're gonna lose the cards!"

The sound of Danny shifting silenced the Straw Hats. When he stilled again, they breathed out in relief.

Visible eye still on Danny, Sanji said, "Since he's still here, Danny should join us for dinner."

The others nodded in agreement. Nami placed her cards down before standing. "Then let's wake him up."

Luffy, excited to eat, leaped over the couch before anyone could begin to move toward the sleeping halfa. He swiftly turned around, hand grabbing Danny's shoulder with an obvious intention to shake him awake.

"Luffy, don't!" As the others hurried closer, they realized Luffy had stopped only halfway into the first shake, his smile widening with each second that passed. "Luffy?"

"He's purring!"

"He's _what_?"

The gathered Straw Hats tentatively rested a hand (a hoof in Chopper's case) on the young halfa's sleeping form, their eyes widening in surprise at the vibration they now felt. "He really is purring..."

Something felt strange. Not bad, just... weird. Opening his eyes, he was a little surprised to see the Straw Hats so close to him, but even stranger than that was that they were all smiling at each other for some reason. It was starting to really freak him out.

Had they pranked him? Looking down at himself, he nearly yelped.

They all had their hands on him. "What are you doing?!" he squeaked, face burning in embarrassment.

They all started, letting go as if he'd just burned them. Most of them awkwardly averted their eyes, but Luffy only smiled. "You were purring."

The blush returned to his cheeks at that. "N-No I wasn't!"

Usopp smirked. "Sounds like someone's in denial."

Nami smiled. "I agree. He was _definitely_ purring just now."

Surrounded by the now grinning Straw Hats, he pouted. "Guys..."

"Can all ghosts purr?"

Danny perked up at the genuine question from the reindeer. "All ghosts with cores can, but it only happens when they're happy."

Their smiles faded as they realized what that meant.

Danny had been happy. Truly happy.

With _them_.

Mentally shaking off the thought, Sanji asked, "Wanna join us for dinner?"

Danny considered the offer. The idea was tempting, but he'd already been gone longer than he'd intended. It was honestly a miracle no ghost had shown up while he was gone. Not to mention he hadn't told Sam and Tucker—or Jazz for that matter—he'd be leaving. "I'd love to, but I really should be heading back. I didn't tell anyone where I was going when I came here." Turning to Sanji, he asked, "Can I take some to go?"

The blond smiled. "Of course." The blond gestured toward the kitchen, hand reaching to open the door—

"Danny!" Everyone turned to Luffy, who was scowling, arms crossed. "You didn't ever bring your friends! I thought you wanted us to meet them."

"O-Oh, right..." His hand latched onto the back of his neck. "It kind of slipped my mind..."

"Then I've decided! Next time you come you have to bring your friends."

Danny nearly sighed. "Alright, alright. I'll bring them next time I come, okay?"

Luffy smiled. "Yep!"

"You said you wanted to take some to go, right?" Turning, Danny saw that Sanji had opened the kitchen door and was gesturing for him to come inside. Danny complied, choosing to walk through the wall next to the door instead, the blond quickly following through the doorway before shutting it behind him. The young halfa watched as the Straw Hat chef made his way around the countertop, grabbing a to go box from the large stack next to the fridge before turning to hand it to Danny.

"Take as much as you'd like."

Following the blond to the stove, Danny did so, filling the box before grabbing one of that meal's flight-friendly items from the platter sitting next to the stove. "Thanks, Sanji! I'll see you guys later!" With that, he transformed into Phantom, taking the box of food with him as he phased through the wall before vanishing from sight.

The kitchen door opened. "Did Danny leave?"

Turning around to face the others, Sanji nodded. "Yeah."

Luffy smiled. "He'll be back."

And they would be there, waiting.


End file.
